Market Conditions Indicate Positive Outlook for Ethereum Growth
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In a recent prediction, Michaël van de Poppe, a well-known crypto analyst, suggested that Ethereum could strengthen against Bitcoin as early as January. This prediction comes as Ethereum's value has grown by 48.2% year-to-date, according to CoinGecko.
The increased value of Ethereum is not only due to market trends but also attributed to a significant increase in long-term Ethereum holders. According to data, the percentage of long-term Ethereum holders has risen from 59% in January to 75% by December, contrasting with a decline in this metric for Bitcoin.
This shift in long-term holder percentage is primarily due to institutional accumulation and strategic reserve adoption. For instance, institutional Ethereum holdings have doubled from around 3% to over 8% of the total supply between early 2025 and August 2025.
Moreover, Ethereum ETF holdings have been increasing steadily from February to August 2025, outpacing Bitcoin ETF growth and on track to surpass Bitcoin’s ETF share of supply by late 2025.
Ethereum's distinctive use cases as a platform for decentralized finance and smart contracts, coupled with recent technological upgrades and investor enthusiasm, have spurred a surge in demand and a shift in investor focus toward ETH as a strategic store-of-value and “digital oil” of the blockchain economy.
In contrast, Bitcoin’s long-term holders have started to reduce their holdings in 2025 after Bitcoin reached critical price levels. Data shows these long-term holders began a distribution phase, offloading approximately 52,000 BTC, a behavior typical near the later stages of bullish cycles. This sell-off reduces the percentage of BTC supply held by long-term holders.
CryptoQuant recently noted bullish signals for Ethereum, and Kaiko analysts have linked Ethereum’s slower growth to fund flows into Solana. However, these factors do not seem to deter the growth of Ethereum's long-term holdings.
Michaël van de Poppe also stated that a breakout above the 0.4 level in the ETH/BTC pair could trigger an altcoin rally within Ethereum's ecosystem. As we move into 2022, it will be interesting to see if these predictions hold true.
[1] DataSource: CoinShares [2] DataSource: CoinGecko [3] DataSource: Glassnode [4] DataSource: Messari [5] DataSource: Santiment
- The prediction by Michaeël van de Poppe indicates a potential strengthening of Ethereum against Bitcoin, possibly as early as January 2022, due to Ethereum's growth in finance and technology, ranging from increased long-term holdings by institutions, the surge in demand for decentralized finance, and strategic store-of-value status.
- In parallel to Ethereum's growth, Bitcoin's long-term holders have been reducing their holdings in 2025, after Bitcoin reached critical price levels, which is a typical behavior near the later stages of bullish cycles, and has led to a decrease in the percentage of Bitcoin supply held by long-term holders.
