Bitcoin’s Ferocious ETF-Fueled Rally Puts Ether at Weakest Price Versus BTC in 2 Months

The price ratio between ether (ETH) and bitcoin (BTC), a commonly watched metric for the biggest cryptocurrencies, sank to a two-month low as a traditional finance giant's plan for a BTC exchange-traded fund (ETF) dramatically shifted sentiment in the industry.

ETH's price divided by BTC's has fallen to 0.0615, according to data from TradingView. The drop reflects bitcoin's far bigger gain this month: a 10% surge versus ETH's 1% increase.

Bitcoin has risen this week as markets more fully absorbed BlackRock's application for a spot bitcoin ETF and re-filings for similar products by well-known financial services firms Invesco and WisdomTree.

BTC has likely also benefited from its omission among 19 listed tokens in lawsuits earlier this month by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against exchanges Binance and Coinbase, Anthony Georgiades, co-founder of Pastel Network, told CoinDesk. Those other tokens dropped by double digits in the days following the suits, although they’ve recovered in this week’s market rebound.

“With regulatory uncertainty around labeling certain digital assets as securities, bitcoin is the only digital asset to remain – in the lens of regulatory agencies – sufficiently decentralized and certainly not a security,” said Georgiades.

Georgiades noted that if there are no exogenous shocks, like a credit crisis, the market might expect certain speculation or trading rotation to drive inflows from BTC into ETH. “Ethereum’s unique aspects, such as its ability to facilitate a wide range of applications from DeFi to NFTs, is a key differentiator from Bitcoin and presents unique value propositions,” he said.

According to Nauman Sheikh, head of protocol and treasury management at Wave Digital Assets, bitcoin’s upcoming halving next year has also further bolstered bitcoin’s position. He added that “bitcoin's dominance is unlikely to fade in the near future. As a result, the ETH/BTC ratio has hit a 2023 low at 0.0615. However, this ratio could further decline to the 0.05 to 0.055 range last seen in the summer of 2022, which may present an opportune moment for investors to favor ethereum over bitcoin.”