Ethereum has outperformed Bitcoin as tensions over the US, Israel, and Iran continue to shape global markets.
data from crypto slate Since the beginning of March, ETH is up 18% against the dollar, while Bitcoin is up 13% over the same period.
The ETH/BTC ratio also rose, increasing by 7.6% from 0.0293 to 0.0315 in less than three weeks. This shows that Ethereum is increasing its position relative to Bitcoin, rather than simply rising with Bitcoin.
This change has pushed ETH above $2,300, putting it on track for its first positive monthly closing price since August 2025. The move stands out as it unfolds amid pressures across global macro markets, where conflict risks and rising energy prices are beginning to reshape expectations for inflation and monetary policy.
Military conflicts involving the US, Israel and Iran have pushed Brent crude above $102 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate above $95. Energy markets are increasingly pricing in the risk of disruption to the Strait of Hormuz, a shipping route that carries about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas flows.
Rising oil prices often affect inflation expectations, raising expectations that central banks will maintain tight policy for the long term. In past episodes, the backdrop has been investors treating Bitcoin as the asset closest to a macro hedge within the sector, tending to support Bitcoin’s role as a defensive crypto trade.
This time, Ethereum has achieved stronger performance. This divergence points to capital flowing into blockchain-specific themes related to Ethereum’s market structure, network activity, and positioning among institutional investors, rather than a broader shift to cryptocurrencies as a haven from geopolitical stress.
Asset management company Matrixiport said:
“Ethereum is increasingly behaving like a financial asset…This dynamic may also help explain why cryptocurrencies have recently shown relative strength against other asset classes and do not fit neatly into traditional risk-on/risk-off frameworks.”
Wall Street Money Returns to Ethereum
Wall Street has been pumping new money into Ethereum, a pace that is driving Ethereum’s recent outperformance.
Nine spot ETH exchange traded funds (ETFs) recorded net inflows of more than $160 million last week, the largest weekly inflows since mid-January, according to SoSoValue data. This trend continued into the new week, with an additional $35.9 million raised in the fund on March 16th.
This flow pattern reinforces the view that institutional demand is returning to ETH after a brief dip in sentiment.
Sustained inflows of this magnitude have typically been preceded by more rapid price movements for some of the assets, including ETH’s rally above $4,000.
Therefore, the latest allocation suggests that portfolio managers are once again increasing their exposure as the market expands beyond Bitcoin.
Meanwhile, a second shift is also shaping the investment case. Regulated products that provide exposure to Ethereum’s network yields open new avenues for traditional financial investors.
BlackRock recently launched an Ethereum staking ETF under the ticker ETHB, giving investors access to both price exposure and validator rewards. The fund raised $104.7 million in seed capital and attracted more than $45.7 million in additional inflows in its first two business days.
This structure gives portfolio managers a way to value ETH through its cash flow potential and network-based yield, making it a more important framework for allocators who need income generation as part of their case for holding alternative assets.
At the same time, corporate buyers are building Ethereum positions on their balance sheets.
Since last year, BitMine has been aggressively expanding its ETH funding and said it plans to acquire up to 5% of the token’s supply.
The pace of these purchases has accelerated this month, with the company purchasing over 100,000 ether in the first two weeks, bringing the company’s total holdings to nearly 4.6 million ether as of mid-March.
This purchase is creating a stable base of demand that reflects the financial strategies used by some publicly traded companies to accumulate Bitcoin early in the cycle.
Speculative interest gradually returns to ETH
There are signs that speculative demand is returning to ETH as institutional buying intensifies.
After the October 10 flash crash, derivatives positions across the digital asset market were reset, with around $19 billion in leveraged positions liquidated in 24 hours, according to CryptoQuant data.
As a result of this move, Binance has reduced Ethereum’s estimated leverage ratio by 27%, indicating a significant reduction in speculative exposure.
Since then, leverage has been gradually restored. By mid-March, positioning had increased as trader sentiment improved, indicating that speculative participation was returning in a more cautious manner than earlier in the cycle.
Data from BlockScholes further strengthens that picture. The company’s ETH Risk Appetite Index has risen from previous lows, indicating an increased appetite among investors for exposure to the token as overall crypto market conditions stabilize.
Meanwhile, market structure data also indicates that near-term selling pressure on digital assets is decreasing.
According to CryptoQuant data, 30-day Ethereum inflows to Binance fell to approximately $20.2 billion, the lowest level since May 2025. The decline in exchange deposits suggests fewer tokens are being offered for sale in major centralized venues, resulting in tight liquidity as prices recover.
At the same time, more investors appear to be moving their ETH to private wallets and staking their contracts. This change reduces the amount of tokens readily available for spot trading, making the market more sensitive to new buying activity.
Ethereum’s blockchain fundamentals also support the rally
Ethereum’s recent gains relative to Bitcoin track a rebound in network activity, according to data from staking provider Everstake and other industry sources.
Everstake said in a recent report that Ethereum is on pace to record its strongest quarter in network usage in more than a year even before the first quarter is complete.
To date, the network has processed more than 150 million transactions and recorded 27.7 million active addresses during the same period, according to the report. Both numbers are higher than comparable quarterly measurements seen throughout 2025.
The increase in activity is also visible in Ethereum’s base layer throughput. Everstake said its network reached a record high of 2.52 million gas per second, an indicator of increased usage across decentralized applications and other on-chain activities.
Part of that demand has to do with Ethereum’s position in tokenized real-world assets, a segment that is receiving more attention from financial companies.
According to data from Token Terminal, Ethereum has currently settled approximately $200 billion in tokenized financial products, accounting for 61% share of the market. This scale has helped Ethereum remain at the center of issuance and payment activity as institutions migrate traditional assets to blockchain-based rails.
The supply profile of the network is also part of the investment case. Since Ethereum moved to a proof-of-stake system, the pace of new Ether issuance has remained below the pace of Bitcoin issuance, said Leon Weidman, head of research at Risk.
Weidman said that Bitcoin’s annual supply growth after the most recent halving is about 1.28%, while Ethereum’s annual supply growth is about 0.24%.
Considering this, he said:
“Everyone calls Bitcoin ‘sound money’. But when you look at the numbers, monetary policy is tighter for ETH!”
Taken together, the data points to a market where Ethereum’s price strength is matched by higher usage, broader participation, and slower supply growth rates. For investors weighing the relative value across major digital assets, this combination has helped support ETH’s recent outperformance.