An Ethereum developer is criticizing the 65% drop in ether’s value compared to Bitcoin since the Merge, arguing it’s due to mistakes made by the Ethereum Foundation, rather than general market trends or lack of coordination.
Reid, a veteran of the early cryptocurrency boom who continues to develop on Ethereum, recently detailed why a project isn’t performing well. He described it as a backlog of unfinished tasks, citing specific deadlines and missed goals.
A 65% Drop With Names Attached
Reid’s findings are consistent with what we see in the broader market. The ratio of Ethereum to Bitcoin reached its highest point – around 0.085 – around the time of the Merge in September 2022.
By late May, the ratio had dropped to around 0.028, showing that Ether hasn’t performed as well as Bitcoin. Currently, Ether is trading under $2,000, which is a 21% decrease from its value a year ago.
Ryan Reid disagrees with Bankless co-founder David Hoffman’s idea that ether has a natural, justifiable price limit. Reid believes the actual limit is lower than many investors predicted, and he attributes this to specific people and events, not general market principles.
Reid reports on companies like Figure and Securitize that deal with credit and real-world assets, and notes that he continues to hold ether.
ESG Marketing and a Missing Staking Interface
Reid believes the claim that the Merge reduced energy usage by 99.95% addressed concerns that investors weren’t even raising.
Investors were looking for returns, builders wanted predictable outcomes, and users desired lower fees. Solana, at the same time, offered incredibly fast processing.
Solana began operating in 2020, quickly offering features like wallets and decentralized finance platforms. Meanwhile, Ethereum was still working on technical details, while the foundational technology for a similar system, proof-of-stake, had been planned for Solana since 2015 but took seven years to fully implement.
Over the past couple of years, Vitalik Buterin’s focus in his writing has moved away from the technical details of Casper and toward ideas about pluralism and network states.
In my research, I’ve noticed Reid interprets the Ethereum community’s approach not as a way to aggressively compete, but as a deeply ingrained part of their culture. It’s just *how* they operate, rather than a deliberate strategy to win.
According to Reid, the biggest piece of evidence is that Ethereum still doesn’t have its own official staking app, even though the Merge happened three years ago.
Currently, becoming a validator directly requires staking 32 ETH. Many users instead choose Lido, which manages around 24% of all staked ETH, even though developers have repeatedly cautioned about its centralization risks.
According to Reid, when an organization says ‘We don’t pick winners,’ it really means they’re choosing not to compete.
Follow us on X to get the latest news as it happens
Rollups as Managed Decline
Focusing on rollups put a strain on the main Ethereum network. The EIP-4844 upgrade launched in March 2024, significantly lowering transaction fees (blob fees) to around 1 wei for much of 2024 and 2025.
Ethereum’s revenue from transaction fees has dropped dramatically – by about 95% – compared to its high point in the last quarter of 2021, when it earned $4.3 billion.
Arbitrum claims its Layer 2 networks have very high profit margins, ranging from 90% to 98%. Base is projected to capture around 70% of the profits from rollups by mid-2025.
Every major L2 issued its own token, fragmenting capital flows inside the ecosystem.
Reid points out that Solana’s system, where transaction fees benefit its token holders, is different. This means fees directly increase the value of Solana’s token.
The key question now is if the pace of releases for the Foundation’s products will change. How the ratio of ETH to BTC performs for the rest of this market cycle will likely tell us the answer.
Read More
- USD PHP PREDICTION
- Gold Rate Forecast
- USD MXN PREDICTION
- Brent Oil Forecast
- USD CNY PREDICTION
- GBP CNY PREDICTION
- EUR USD PREDICTION
- EUR CNY PREDICTION
- Senate’s CLARITY Act: A July 4th Fireworks Display or Political Fire Sale?
- JPY KRW PREDICTION
2026-05-31 23:07