In the aftermath of FTX’s bankruptcy in November 2022, the cryptocurrency industry has entered a phase of reconfiguration—one in which Bitcoin has firmly asserted its dominance over Ethereum when it comes to investor profitability and capital flow.
New data also suggests a widening gap between the two leading digital assets—a trend that highlights not just short-term sentiment but also some potentially interesting deeper structural shifts in the market.
One of the clearest indicators of this difference is the increase in actual capitalization. Bitcoin’s actual cap—meaning the total value of all available Bitcoins, counted at the time of their last on-chain movement—has shot up by $468 billion since last November. This is a 117% increase in actual value, which means that there has been some sufficiently serious capital that has entered the Bitcoin ecosystem of late.
Since Nov 2022 (FTX collapse), #Bitcoin's realized cap has grown by $468B (+117%), while #Ethereum’s increased by just $61B (+32%). pic.twitter.com/h9tUfqhnrY
— glassnode (@glassnode) April 10, 2025
In stark contrast, the only $61 billion gain in realized cap from January 2021 to April 2023 for Ethereum translates into a relatively meager 32% rise. Even though the growth is still a gain, this rate of return is well below the rate of return for Bitcoin during the same time frame. In past cycles, Ethereum would almost ineluctably follow Bitcoin closely during recovery periods. This time, the lag from Ethereum seems to be more pronounced.
Bitcoin Investors Hold Firm Profits, While Ethereum Holders Slip Underwater
The market cap versus realized cap (MVRV) ratio offers extra insight into the profitability of the two assets. This metric compares the current market cap of a crypto asset to its realized cap. A value over 1.0 suggests that the average holder is in profit. A value under 1.0 suggests that the average holder is in a loss.
Recent analytics show that since January 2023, Bitcoin investors have kept unrealized profits of a much larger magnitude compared to Ethereum holders. The profits that Bitcoin holders have seen, however, don’t seem to be at risk of diminishing anytime soon. Even with all the recent market volatility, Bitcoin’s profits have held up much better than Ethereum’s, supporting the idea that Bitcoin is—to put it simply—a more stable investment.
In contrast, Ethereum’s MVRV ratio has not performed well of late. Most conspicuously, it fell beneath the all-important 1.0 level back in March. That means the typical holder of ETH is now net negative—holding coins that are pro forma underwater, given how much was paid to obtain them. For folks counting on the value of Ethereum to go up in order to recoup losses from recent purchases, this picture looks pretty cloudy. It also pretty obviously raises the specter of a value death spiral.
Maybe most revealing is the MVRV delta between the two assets. For a record-breaking 812 consecutive days, Bitcoin investors have enjoyed a higher profitability profile than Ethereum holders. This streak marks an all-time high and underscores the structural divergence between BTC and ETH that has defined the current market cycle. It’s not just that Bitcoin has performed better; it’s that it has consistently outperformed for over two years, suggesting a durable shift in investor preference.
The Rise of Bitcoin as a Dominant Macro Asset
What we could be seeing is not just a plain performance gap but rather a more profound shift in the way these two assets are viewed and used. Bitcoin, boosted by the advent of spot ETFs, is now enjoying more and more institutional adoption. And, with its fixed monetary policy, Bitcoin is steadily emerging in the popular imagination as a “macro hedge,” sort of like digital gold. Ethereum, in contrast, represents something quite different. It continues to evolve as a programmable blockchain and now has a value proposition that is a lot more complex than Bitcoin’s. It includes DeFi, staking, and smart contracts.
This innovation-laden complexity has not, lately, attracted the same level of capital inflow or investor confidence, however. In fact, the underperformance of ETH relative to BTC may reflect a broader movement of capital toward something far simpler, and with far fewer moving parts, that appears to be much more stable and expresses the scarce quality that investors seem to be craving.
That’s right: in the battle for hearts and minds (and investment), Bitcoin is once again the clear winner.
The market may have been maturing, but Bitcoin and Ethereum’s clear separation hasn’t been dwindling; it’s been increasing. Investors seem to be talking about—not just looking at—these assets in a way that recognizes their individual roles in the ecosystem. And that recognition is leading to a diversification that’s hinged on these two crypto jewels’ distinct character and set of risk factors.
Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.
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