Ethereum’s Rocky Romance: Institutions Ghost but Keep Checking Their Ex’s DMs 📉💔

by

Out here in the dust and tumbleweeds of the crypto plains, Ethereum finds itself at a crossroads — that lonesome stretch where even the strongest horses stumble. The base layer’s business has quieted down like a worn-out boxcar rattling on forgotten tracks. Vitalik Buterin himself, that old visionary watering the dust, reckons it’s time to tear up the blueprint and build something stranger, something new.

But the big institutional suits? They ain’t sitting still to see if this horse will gallop or fall. No sir. Big names like Galaxy Digital and Paradigm have been offloading their Ether like farmers selling off cattle before a storm. Whisper it low: the love affair is cooling.

April’s scorecard reads like a tragedy in five acts — Ethereum’s base-layer action is collapsing, fees are shrinking faster than a puddle in the sun, and inflation’s creeping back like an old outlaw creeping into town. Those shiny new layer-2 networks? They’re busy eating Ethereum’s lunch, leaving the base layer with crumbs.

Yet, as with every saga worth its salt, there’s a twist: some deep-pocketed whales see this dip not as a goodbye, but a “hold my beer” moment. Even the sellers can’t quite slam the door shut on their ETH. Because heartbreak, like crypto, is complicated.

Institutions Dump Ethereum but Can’t Resist Checking on It Like a Jealous Ex

It’s that old story — Ethereum’s getting dumped, but it’s the ex everyone still stalks on social media. They’re not cutting ties entirely, just benching it while they flirt with other prospects like Solana. It’s like swiping left but then double-tapping later to see if the new flame’s catching fire.

On-chain sleuths spotted Galaxy Digital moving a hefty 65,600 ETH ($105.5 million) into Binance’s coffer. Galaxy’s stash has dipped from a February high of about 98,000 ETH to just shy of 68,000 now. Yet, compared to January, that’s still more coins than a slot machine spits out on a lucky night.

Galaxy’s slide-down is just part of a bigger picture. CoinShares says ETH funds got a $26.7 million cold shoulder last week alone, dragging a hefty $772 million away in eight weeks. Still, the year isn’t over, and $215 million in fresh inflows means someone’s still tossing coins in the wishing well.

Meanwhile, Galaxy’s also pulling out nearly three-quarters of a million SOL tokens, worth $98.37 million, as Solana staged its own memecoin-casino shindig — a wild party that drew the crowd before the house of cards tumbled. Solana’s claim to fame? Handling truckloads of transactions with all the grace of a dance hall cowboy—no crashes, no outrageous fees, just smooth moves.

Paradigm’s playing the same tune, having parted with 5,500 ETH ($8.66 million) to Anchorage Digital on April 21. From January, Paradigm moved around 97,000 ETH ($301.57 million) to Anchorage, which then funneled the coins into centralized exchanges — like cattle pushed through a chute.

Jayendra Jog, co-founder of Sei Labs, sums it up, “The ‘ultra-sound money’ song’s played out for these investors; now they’re staring at shrinking returns and tokenomics that feel less like a rocket ship, more like a rusty tractor.”

Ethereum’s Deflation Fairy Takes a Coffee Break

Ether’s reputation as a deflation superstar used to shine like a neon sign on a desert night. Two big upgrades put that magic in place: the London hard fork in 2021, setting ablaze part of the transaction fees, and the 2022 Merge, swapping mining dust for proof-of-stake dreams, slashing fresh ETH creation.

That once-tight supply squeeze held firm until April 2024, when inflation sneaked back like an unwelcome guest. By February 2025, ETH’s supply had outgrown the numbers from the low-Merge days — talk about rebirth in reverse.

Why the swell in supply? Lower fees mean fewer coins go up in smoke. IntoTheBlock’s data shows Ethereum raked in 1,873.52 ETH in fees from April 14 to 21 — not too shabby, but still a whisper higher than the historic low of 1,697.61 ETH recorded in March 2025, a figure nobody’s proud to brag about since 2017 wasn’t exactly yesterday.

Vitalik Throws a Curveball: Enter the RISC-V

On April 20, our wizard Vitalik dropped a bombshell: a proposal to swap Ethereum’s current brain — the EVM language — for a shiny RISC-V instruction set. Translation? Throw out the old playbook, maybe even wave a white flag to what the network’s been trucking on for years.

Jayendra Jog tells it straight, “When your founder’s suggesting swapping out the engine, it’s not a tune-up you’re after — it’s admitting that the old jalopy’s engine just won’t run no more.”

Ethereum Foundation’s ears must be ringing; CryptoMoon’s poked them for a comment. Meanwhile, the project’s leadership hallways are shuffling like a potluck dinner — some folks aren’t thrilled with the direction the wagon’s heading.

The One That Got Away? The Ethereum Tale Endures

Ethereum’s big idea to scale was like building side-routes — layer-2 networks meant to lighten the load on the base chain but still ride shotgun on its security. Smart, but the side roads have left the main highway rattling, with fewer transactions burning ETH fees, splintering the ecosystem like a cracked windshield.

Tomasz Stańczak, the new co-executive director at the Ethereum Foundation, is promising a new dawn focused back on the base layer, taking care of layer-1 scaling while supporting layer-2. It’s like deciding to fix the roof before worrying about the porch swing.

Some whales aren’t crying in their mugs over the slump. On April 23, Lookonchain spotted a couple of wallets scooping up millions in ETH, and another whale quietly landed over $100 million in ETH since February 15. The price’s taken a fall from its $4,000 holiday party but perked up 10% to $1,800 — a comeback trail with a wink and a nod.

Standard Chartered Bank’s cut its 2025 Ether price dream from $10,000 to a more modest $4,000 by year-end. Still, whales sitting in the boat see this as a chance to ride the waves up when the tide turns.

Geoff Kendrick, the bank’s head crypto whisperer, sees Ethereum’s layer-2 proxies as sort of the Robin Hood of fees — stealing from the base layer’s coffers but promising trickle-down magic. Whether it’s magic or just smoke in the desert remains to be seen.

Powered by Pollinations.AI free text APIs. [Support our mission](https://pollinations.ai/redirect/kofi) to keep AI accessible for everyone.

Read More

2025-04-23 18:39