An Ethereum ecosystem participant has blamed the Ethereum Foundation’s execution for the token’s weakness versus bitcoin since the Merge. Reid said the slump reflects accumulated product misjudgments and delayed execution rather than market cycles. He cited the ETH/BTC ratio decline, the lack of a native staking app, and reliance on Lido. He also criticised the rollup-led roadmap for weakening layer-1 revenue and said layer-2 networks built their own profit structures.

Ethereum fell below $2,000 for the first time since early 2025, and its market-cap dominance slipped to 9.43% as bitcoin’s rose to 57.7%. Derivatives markets saw heavier liquidations and rising open interest. DeFi activity weakened, with fees at record lows and assets locked in Ethereum-based DeFi protocols down to $41.78 billion from above $91.0 billion in August 2025. ETF outflows also returned.