- Ether (ETH) was $2,770, up nearly 11% this month, surpassing Bitcoin (BTC) at 5%.
- ETH (45.2%) shatters BTC (38.1%) with OKX’s permanent futures market trading volume.
- Despite BTC volatility, the agency has “purchased DIPS” and the supply of long-term holders is expanding with each GlassNode.
As Asian markets began trading on Thursday, Ether (ETH) was changing hands at $2,770, showing robust performance throughout the month.
This strength identifies its pivotal role in bridging traditional finance (defi) with increasing institutional appetite for the potential for structural growth of Ethereum, particularly in the derivatives market, which are reported to be obscuring Bitcoin (BTC).
Meanwhile, the broader crypto landscape has seen a massive surge in absurd activity as Tron emerges as the main beneficiary.
Ether has particularly outperformed Bitcoin this month, with Coindesk market data showing an almost 11% increase in ETH compared to the 5% gain in BTC.
This difference is partly due to an increased demand for institutional trading for Ethereum. In an interview with Coindesk, Lennix Lai, chief commercial officer of Crypto Exchange OKX, told Coindesk that sophisticated investors are increasingly betting on ETH.
“Ethereum is covering BTC in the permanent futures market, with ETH accounting for 45.2% of trading volume over the past week. By comparison, BTC is sitting at 38.1%,” Lai revealed.
As Coindesk recently reported, this finding is consistent with similar trends observed in other major derivative platforms like Deribit, suggesting a major change in the way in which institutional players allocate capital within the crypto space.
This is not to say that institutional interest in Bitcoin has diminished. A recent report from on-chain analytics firm GlassNode shows that institutions are actively “buying DIPs” despite the recent price volatility of Bitcoin.
GlassNode’s analysis shows that long-term holders (LTH) have achieved profits of over $930 million per day at a recent BTC rally.
Surprisingly, the supply held by these LTHS has actually grown, instead of causing a wider sale.
“This dynamic highlights that the pressure of maturation and accumulation outweighs the behavior of distribution,” a GlassNode analyst wrote, describing this as “very atypical in the late-stage bull market.”
Despite these underlying strengths, major cryptocurrencies remain susceptible to geopolitical risks and unpredictable “Black Swan” events, such as the recent public dispute between US President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk.
Episodes like this serve as harsh reminders that market sentiments can change rapidly, even within a structurally strong market.
However, under this surface level volatility, institutional beliefs appear to remain intact.
Although Ethereum is considered a priority vehicle for accessing regulated regulatory opportunities, Bitcoin continues to benefit from long-term accumulation by institutions, often via exchange transaction funds (ETFs).
“While macro uncertainty remains, it appears that a $3,000 ETH is increasingly likely,” Lai concluded, offering a bullish outlook on Ethereum’s short-term price potential.
Stablecoin Surge: Liquidity pours in, Tron leads the price
According to a new report from Cryptoquant, the Stablecoin market has experienced a major boom, recently reaching its all-time high of $228 billion, an increase of 17% per year.
This surge in liquidity in dollars is supported by factors such as the stubcoin issuer circle’s blockbuster early public offering (IPO) and depicts where this influx of capital quietly appears, thanks to rising debt protocol yields and improved clarity in US regulations.
“The volume of stubcoins on centralized exchanges has also reached record high levels, supporting crypto trading liquidity,” reported Cryptoquant.
Their data shows that the total value of centralized exchange ERC20 stablecoins (built at Ethereum) has risen to a record $50 billion.
Interestingly, the majority of this growth in the exchange of Stablecoin reserves was the result of an increase in USDC reserves on these platforms, which so far increased 1.6 times to $8 billion in 2025.
When it comes to blockchain protocols that benefit most from these ridiculous influxes, Tron has emerged as a clear leader.
The combination of Tron’s fast transaction finality and deep integration with major Stablecoin publishers like Tether is believed to have made it a “liquidity magnet.”
In a recently released report reflecting these findings, Presto Research noted that Tron notched a net Stablecoin influx of over $6 billion in May alone.
This person has broken through all the other chains, placed Tron and placed with the second highest daily active user just behind Solana.
Tron was also a top performer in terms of native total value lock (TVL) growth.
In contrast, according to Presto data, both Ethereum and Solana experienced significant stubcoin outflows and losses in the amount of bridges over the same period.
This suggests the potential lack of attractive new yield opportunities or major protocol upgrades sufficient to retain or attract fresh Stablecoin capital on these networks.
Presto’s data confirms a broader trend. Institutional capital and retail capital are increasingly turning towards layer 2 solutions such as Base, Solana (which still attracts users despite recent outflows) and Tron.
The common denominator within these preferred chains appears to be faster execution speeds, more dynamic and evolving ecosystems, and in some cases, more substantial incentive programs.