Ethereum has been one of the worst-performing major assets of 2025 so far. But don’t let that fool you!
Every day, tens of billions of dollars in stablecoins move across Ethereum, making it THE settlement layer for global dollar liquidity. Large holders are accumulating ETH as well, even with prices down in the dumps.
Is the general market missing the bigger picture?
Putting Ethereum’s bad year in context
Ethereum has had a bruising start to 2025. While silver, gold, and U.S. equities have climbed steadily, ETH slid roughly 12% YTD, making it one of the weakest performers among major assets.
Bitcoin [BTC] has fared slightly better, while the altcoin market has fallen far further.
Capital is rotating into metals and traditional risk assets, all while Ethereum’s [ETH] price has gone nowhere. It looks like a market that has lost interest.
But price performance alone doesn’t tell you everything.
Where the money actually settles
On an average day, Ethereum Mainnet processes roughly $90-100 billion in Stablecoin Transfers, far more than any other network. According to Leon Waidmann, Head of Research, OnChainHQ, this is mostly USDT and USDC moving for payments, treasury operations, and real settlement.
Other chains are growing, and some are cheaper or faster. But stablecoin volume concentrates where trust, neutrality, and finality matter most.
Users willingly pay higher fees because a failed settlement is not an option at this scale.
While prices stall...
Large holders are behaving very differently.
ETH has repeatedly traded near the realized price of accumulation addresses; essentially, the average entry price of long-term whales. Instead of selling into weakness, these wallets have continued to add more ETH.
The timing is interesting.
Whale profits have been squeezed close to zero, a point where many would normally reduce exposure. Instead, inflows to accumulation addresses are increasing. That’s a lot of patience!
