Foreign media reports that Geoff Kendrick, head of digital asset research at Standard Chartered Bank, believes that the market's relative pricing of Ethereum against Bitcoin has changed after Strategy disclosed the sale of some of its Bitcoin. Despite Ethereum lagging behind for the past few months, this event resulted in one of the largest single-day relative gains against BTC in recent years.

ETH/BTC rebounds after Strategy sell-off

In his latest report, Kendrick stated that Strategy's reduction of its Bitcoin holdings by approximately $2.5 million unexpectedly triggered Ethereum's relative strength. According to his statistics, since the beginning of 2024, Ethereum has rarely achieved better single-day relative performance during Bitcoin declines, making this volatility particularly pronounced.

He predicts that by the end of this year, the ETH/BTC ratio may return to 0.04, close to levels seen since September of last year. Under this assumption, if the price of Bitcoin remains largely unchanged, the price of Ethereum will rise by approximately 41% from its current level of around $1900, reaching approximately $2700.

Pledge yield is considered the point of difference.

Kendrick believes this sell-off also highlights the difference in business models between "companies that buy Bitcoin" and "companies that buy Ethereum." Institutions holding Ethereum can participate in network validation through staking and earn rewards, meaning their holdings themselves can generate cash flow.

In his view, this structure would reduce the need for related companies to be forced to sell assets in the future. In contrast, companies with Bitcoin as their core reserve, lacking similar revenue streams, might be more sensitive to selling pressure in their financial arrangements.

Stablecoins and tokenization provide support

Standard Chartered set a year-end price target of $4,000 for Ethereum last week, arguing that the current price does not reflect improvements in internal network metrics. Kendrick also noted that Wall Street's interest in stablecoins and asset tokenization is rising, and Ethereum remains one of the key infrastructures for both.

He pointed out that asset management institutions such as BlackRock have previously demonstrated their recognition of the Ethereum ecosystem in related fields. Based on this assessment, Standard Chartered expects the weakness of ETH/BTC to ease in the next few years.

However, the report also noted that not everyone in the market agrees with the old cyclical pattern that "after Bitcoin hits a new high, altcoins will take over and outperform." Some analysts believe that the market structure of Bitcoin has changed since the launch of ETFs, which may weaken the previous rotation pattern.