Chiara Bianchi
Galaxy Digital, a leading crypto-focused financial firm, appears to have made a strategic portfolio shift—offloading over $100 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) in exchange for Solana (SOL). This move comes as Ethereum continues to face declining momentum and shrinking market dominance.
According to blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain, Galaxy transferred 65,600 ETH (valued at approximately $106.5 million) into Binance and subsequently withdrew 752,240 SOL (worth $105 million) over the past two weeks. Arkham Intelligence further confirms that Galaxy currently holds 55,760 ETH ($23.9 million). Much of these assets have since been moved to unidentified wallet addresses.
Ethereum’s Dominance Hits Record Low as SOL Gains Ground
Ethereum’s underperformance continues to raise red flags across the crypto space. Earlier today, ETH’s dominance—the percentage of Ethereum’s market cap relative to the overall crypto market—dropped below 7% for the first time ever. Since the beginning of 2025, Ethereum’s market cap dominance has shrunk by 43%, and the price of ETH has fallen 51.5%, with current prices hovering around $1,627.
In contrast, Bitcoin has remained relatively stable, even as broader financial markets react to escalating U.S. tariff tensions. The ETH/BTC ratio has dropped 48% year-to-date, according to data from TradingView, further underscoring Ethereum’s weak performance compared to its largest competitor.
Institutional Confidence in Ethereum Wanes
This negative sentiment is not limited to retail traders. Ethereum-based ETFs in the U.S. have now logged eight consecutive weeks of outflows, totaling over $909 million in capital exiting the ecosystem. High-profile firms appear to be reducing their exposure to ETH in favor of alternative tokens.
Ethereum DeFi Volume Plummets as Users Shift to Cheaper Chains
Ethereum’s once-dominant role in decentralized finance (DeFi) is now under pressure. According to DefiLlama, Ethereum-based decentralized exchanges (DEXs) processed $42.5 billion in volume in March 2025, down from $64.7 billion in February and $82.2 billion in January. This downward trend highlights a clear shift in user activity toward lower-cost platforms like Solana and Layer-2 solutions such as Base.
Hope on the Horizon: Ethereum Prepares for the Pectra Upgrade
Despite current challenges, the Ethereum community is looking ahead to the upcoming Pectra upgrade, set to launch on May 7. This is Ethereum’s most ambitious software update since Dencun’s implementation in March 2024. Pectra will introduce account abstraction, raise the staking cap, and increase the blob count limit, aiming to enhance scalability and user experience—particularly for rollup-centric applications.
In addition, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently proposed a significant change to the blockchain’s architecture: replacing the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) bytecode with the more versatile, open-source RISC-V architecture, a move that could drastically improve Ethereum’s execution layer performance.
