Ethereum wiped out almost half its value in 2025, with prices exceeding 46% since the start of the year as ETFs were unable to attract capital inflows and Altcoin lost its biggest revenue. After months of discussion on the future of the Ethereum Foundation and the new proposal for higher scalability for Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum's eyes are a comeback and perhaps the biggest of the year.
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Ethereum can rise from the dead with three catalysts
Ethereum (ETH) has lost relevance, revenue and demand from new users for the past four months of 2025. Data from GrowingEpie is an important metric that measures chain demand and relevance between market participants, indicating that the number of unique addresses interacting with one or more chains within the ETH ecosystem within a given week has been a new all-time hit.
A 62% increase was recorded in the number of active addresses each week, increasing the advantage of Layer 2 by 57%.
Ethereum Weekly Engagement | Source: growthepie.xyz
On Wednesday, April 30th, Etherum led market sentiment among 82% of traders, followed by Solana (Sol) and Bitcoin (BTC). Data collected by Oriole Insights shows that Ethereum acquires relevance and bullish sentiment from traders as market participants become greedy and earns 56 on a scale of 0 to 100.
Daily Market Sentiment Trends Project | Source: Oriole Insights
After falling below most altcoins and bitcoins since the beginning of 2025, Ethereum is aiming for a comeback in light of recent announcements and updates.
From Vitak Buterin's plans to expand the Ethereum network to change management of the Ethereum Foundation, Altcoin was able to revive from the dead and compete with giant Solana, who gained a ton of new users, revenue and activity in 2024 and 2025.
The pivot proposed by the Ethereum Foundation is heading towards the main product, the token. Scaling Layer 1 Chains, Blobs and improved user experience can lead to higher adoption, boosting revenue generation and potentially losing interest from traders in the ecosystem.
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Vitalik Buterin's plans for Ethereum scalability
In mid-April, Ethereum creator Vitak Buterin proposed to increase scalability in the Ethereum runtime. Buterin suggested ideas to solve the key problems facing ETH networks, a major scaling bottleneck, and said it could significantly improve the simplicity of the execution layer for users.
The key concepts of developers building on the Ethereum chain have not changed. Baterin says the change is “barely noticeable.” The ETH Holder Community is debating the impact of the proposal and whether the changes are sufficient to make Ethereum relevant again.
Ethereum Scalability Proposal | Source: Ethereum Magicians Blog
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Ethereumv. Solana
The Ethereum vs. Solana debate has furiously, with Sol leading some key tier 2 and Dex metrics. The dune analysis dashboard comparing Ethereum and its layer two-chains to Solana for the past three months shows that almost four times more transactions were recognized in the same period as Ethereum and its L2 chains.
SOL leads nearly $30 billion in DEX volumes, with Solana having three times the number of active addresses that ETH and its layer 2 chains.
Ethereum and L2sv. SolanaMetrics | Source: Dune Analytics
Monthly comparison of Ethereum Layer 2 and Solana Transactions and Active Addresses shows the complete image. For Ethereum to beat Solana in the decentralized sector, it will require a massive surge in both metrics.
Ethereum L2Sv. Monthly Active Addresses and Transactions in Solana | Source: Dune Analytics
Five Burning Questions and the Future of Ethereum
What does BlackRock's $150 billion deal mean for Ethereum's future?
BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, is planning to introduce a digital share class of its $150 billion financial trust fund. The Ethereum Developer and Holder Community believes this could potentially provide long-term benefits to ETH and Altcoin prices.
Injecting capital into the RWA sector utilizes DLT through BNY Mellon, a company using the Ethereum blockchain. CEO Larry Fink highlights the potential for tokenization and its importance to the global domination of the US economy.
Ethereum could come from capital inflows.
Will Ethereum ETF catch up with Bitcoin?
Data from Farside Investors shows five-day capital inflows into the US-based Spot Ethereum ETF, except on April 30, when Net Flow was minus $2.3 million. In the past 15 days, nearly $2.5 billion in facility capital has been poured into Ethereum.
Ethereum ETF Flow | Source: Farside Investors
This number is relatively low compared to Bitcoin, but Altcoin has steadily caught up in the second quarter of 2025 in terms of institutional demand.
What does derivative data show for the future of Ethereum?
Coinglass derivative data shows that derivative volumes, options interest, and options trading volume have all risen over the past 24 hours. Derivative traders are not completely bullish in ether, with long/short ratios below 1, but as of May 1st, it is 0.9771.
Open interest in Ethereum reached nearly $3 billion between April 9th and April 30th, indicating a steady increase in the value of all open derivative contracts across the exchange.
A rise in OI is usually considered as assets bullish.
Ethereum Futures Open Interest | Source: Coinglass
Will Ethereum prices rise in the short term?
Data on derive.xyz shows that while retailers expect ETH prices to fall, derive's sentiment is bullish, indicating that call is up to 4:1. The forecasting platform imposes a 9% chance of a rally above $2,300 by May 30th, and a 21% chance of under $1,600 as of April 30th.
An astonishing 81.8% of all Ethereum options premiums use an astounding 81.8%.
Ethereum 7-Day and 30-Day Implicit Volatility | Source: Amberdata
Did Ethereum prices reach cycle bottom?
According to Lab4Crypto, Ethereum is finally touching the -1SD line, marking the opportunity for bystanders to average dollar cost to ETH. The chart shows the final touch of the -1SD line. This is the level that has historically been considered the bottom of Altcoin.
Ethereum reached this level on April 8th, as seen in the lower range estimates chart below.
Ethereum bottom range estimate | Source: Lab4Crypto
Ethereum price forecast
The Ethereum price will win nearly 11% and could test Altcoin's key psychological level, the Fair Value Gap cap 2,000. Two important momentum indicators, RSI and MACD, support bullish papers in ether.
The RSI reads 55 and is tilted upward. MACD flushes the green histogram bar above the neutral line. Both refer to AltCoin's further benefits.
Ethereum can test resistance for $2,533. This is the low boundary of the fair value gap for daily time frames, covering the $3,000 level in the medium to long term.
ETH/USDT Daily Price Chart | Source: crypto.news
If a flash crash or market correction occurs with Bitcoin, Ethereum can test support at $1,658, the lower boundary of the fair value gap for the daytime window.
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
