Jiang Zhuoer, founder of Chinese mining pool BTC.TOP, has reversed a bearish Ethereum call and now expects ETH to outperform Bitcoin during the current crypto cycle.
The shift follows a costly short trade. Jiang had sold ETH between $1,738 and $1,931 and positioned for further declines, only to close those bets at a loss after Ether moved above $2,000. He later repurchased ETH near $2,100 and said he is now roughly 90% confident the broader crypto bear market has ended.
ETH/BTC strength changes the outlook
Jiang’s bullish case centers on the ETH/BTC ratio, which measures Ether’s performance directly against Bitcoin.
Ethereum has recently shown renewed relative strength after years of underperformance. Coinpaper’s recent ETH/BTC analysis highlighted a break above a long-term downtrend, with the 0.03 level emerging as an important threshold for further gains.
Jiang plans to deploy his remaining capital into Ethereum if Bitcoin falls back toward $67,000–$72,000. If that pullback does not happen, he said he intends to complete his ETH purchases by the end of October.
ETF demand and tokenization support Ethereum
Institutional flows are strengthening the case. US spot Ethereum ETFs recently attracted about $220.8 million in a single session as ETH climbed above $2,400. The latest ETF inflows coincided with a roughly 29% weekly gain in Ether.
Ethereum also has structural exposure to areas Bitcoin does not directly serve. Its network supports stablecoins, decentralized finance, tokenized securities and smart contracts.
Tom Lee, chairman of BitMine, has expressed a similar view. BitMine now holds more than 5.8 million ETH and argues that tokenization and AI-related blockchain applications could push the ETH/BTC ratio higher. Its recent ETH holdings represent about 4.8% of Ethereum’s supply.
Bitcoin still holds the stronger monetary narrative
The case for Ethereum does not mean Bitcoin’s outlook has weakened. BTC remains the largest crypto asset, with deeper institutional liquidity and a clearer scarcity narrative.
Ethereum’s advantage is different: it can benefit from both asset-price appreciation and increased network activity. The broader Ethereum ecosystem provides exposure to applications that do not exist directly on Bitcoin.
Over the latest weekly period cited by Jiang, Bitcoin gained about 22% while Ethereum rose roughly 30%.
Whether that gap persists will depend heavily on ETH/BTC. If the pair continues breaking higher, Ethereum’s long period of relative weakness may finally be reversing. If it falls back below recent support, Bitcoin could quickly regain leadership.
