During this period, the differentiation of the crypto market has intensified again: ETF funds continue to buy large amounts of Bitcoin, keeping its price strong; retail investors, hot money and active funds in the market are all concentrated on meme coins, and the SOL ecological token has also performed well; but Ethereum and altcoins have performed weakly, especially the "king of ecology" Ethereum, which has been questioned by the market as to whether it will be replaced by SOL. Various kols and former believers are wavering, and Vitalik Buterin and the Ethereum Foundation have to come out to maintain stability.
Analysts at StarEx Exchange believe that Ethereum’s foundation is still there and SOL is unlikely to replace Ethereum, but if the ecosystem fails to prosper, its price may fall further.
In the capital market, when the market consensus is too consistent, it often indicates a potential reversal, because it is impossible for everyone to profit from the market. For example, when the Federal Reserve started a rate cut cycle, according to common sense, people expected that U.S. bonds would rise as interest rates fell, but the actual situation was that U.S. bonds continued to be sold after a large amount of funds poured in, resulting in funds being trapped.
Ethereum has long been regarded as the "king" of the crypto ecosystem, and its position seems to be unshakable. However, in the past six months, ETH has continued to fall against Bitcoin and Solana, and there has been almost no decent rebound, which not only surprised the market, but also caused most investors to suffer heavy losses. A large amount of funds have been deposited in the hype of meme coins. The market heat has lasted for half a year, and the market value of many meme coins has exceeded 1 billion US dollars, which has made the so-called "value coins" become eclipsed in the process.
Analysts at StarEx Exchange believe that there is another potential risk point for Ethereum, which is the low staking yield rate, which is only about 4%. If the Ethereum ecosystem fails to explode and drive up the price of ETH, the ETH holders who are staking may panic because of the low returns and the greater risk of falling, and they may unstake and sell, further exacerbating the price decline and forming a negative feedback loop. If this situation continues, it may threaten the security and decentralization of the Ethereum network, which are the foundations of Ethereum's survival.
Ethereum is far superior to SOL in terms of security and decentralization, but why do so many funds still flow to SOL? StarEx exchange analysts believe that these funds are mainly speculative in nature, seeking low-cost and fast trading experience. With its low degree of decentralization, SOL provides extremely fast speed and low fees, becoming the "on-chain casino" for many funds. In the atmosphere of speculation, funds are more concerned about experience and cost, and security only needs to be "sufficient", and SOL just meets these requirements.
The US presidential election is the focus of the market. Trump's policy proposals, such as drastic interest rate cuts, tax cuts and trade wars, foreshadow more stubborn inflation, so funds flow to gold, Bitcoin and top US stocks as inflation hedging tools. BTC's market share has now exceeded 59%, gradually moving away from the scope of traditional crypto assets and becoming a mainstream financial asset. Ethereum hopes to regain its glory by prospering its ecosystem again. StarEx exchange analysts believe that SOL's security and decentralization are not as good as Ethereum, and its infrastructure is not as solid as Ethereum. The crazy hype of meme coins cannot continue indefinitely. Once the crypto ecosystem enters the substantive development stage, the trend of meme coins will most likely gradually subside.
Bitcoin's status as "digital gold" is unshakable, but whether the title of "king of the ecosystem" can always belong to Ethereum is beginning to be questioned more and more. As encryption technology continues to mature, more and more new projects have the opportunity to stand out with their unique ecological models, and even achieve overtaking. Time is really running out for Ethereum.
