ETH/BTC

Fifty-seven percent. That’s how much Ethereum has fallen from its August 2025 peak. Today, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency trades at around $2,100, and looking at the chart, it’s hard to imagine that it once climbed to heights that seemed unreachable. Over the same period, the ETH/BTC ratio has dropped by 37%. Bears are celebrating, bulls are licking their wounds, and retail investors are asking the same question in panic: Is this the end for Ethereum?

Jeff Kendrick of Standard Chartered answers that question with a confidence that may seem provocative. No, it’s not the end. It’s a temporary disconnect between fundamentals and price. And if history teaches us anything, it’s that such gaps eventually close. The only question is when—and how high Ether can rise when it does.

Standard Chartered draws a comparison that is both encouraging and sobering.

The year is 2001. The dot-com bubble bursts. Technology stocks plunge. Amazon—now worth trillions of dollars—loses 90% of its market value. Yet inside the company, something important is happening that stock charts fail to capture. Business processes are improving. The customer base is growing. Infrastructure is becoming more reliable.

At the time, Jeff Bezos made a statement that would later become famous: “While the stock price was moving in the wrong direction, everything inside the company was moving in the right direction.”

Kendrick believes the same logic applies to ETH today.

On the surface, everything looks terrible. The price chart resembles a falling knife. Sentiment across the crypto market is bleak. Bitcoin ETFs are seeing outflows, macroeconomic conditions are weighing on risk assets, and geopolitical uncertainty is adding another layer of fear.

Yet beneath the surface, activity on the Ethereum blockchain remains strong. Transaction volumes are hovering near historic highs. Total value...