JPMorgan Says Ether and Altcoins Need On-Chain Activity, Use-Case Breakthroughs to Catch Up

Since 2023, bitcoin has significantly outperformed ether and other altcoins, driven by institutional inflows and demand for spot ETFs. JPMorgan says the market’s focus has shifted from technical upgrades to practical use cases. Whether DeFi applications, transaction demand and on-chain activity can expand will determine if capital returns to non-bitcoin assets.

JPMorgan’s latest analysis says Ethereum will struggle to catch up with bitcoin even after completing network upgrades unless on-chain activity increases significantly. Weak transaction volumes reduce the amount of fees burned, while new issuance adds to supply pressure and could weigh on ether’s price. The bank gave neither a dollar price target nor a specific date for catching up, identifying only a sharp increase in network activity as the key to a turnaround.