Standard Chartered's global head of digital assets research, Geoffrey Kendrick, released a report on June 2 arguing that Strategy's (formerly MicroStrategy) sale of 32 Bitcoin (worth ~$2.5 million) is a "critical turning point" — the very moment when Ethereum (ETH) begins to outperform Bitcoin (BTC). Following the news, BTC dropped below $70,000 to $68,790, down over 4.25% in 24 hours, while ETH fell only 0.25% to $1,975. The ETH/BTC ratio recorded its steepest single-day rally in years.
ETH/BTC Surges Against BTC Drop, Analyst Compares to Amazon in 2001
Kendrick noted that such a large ETH/BTC gain on a BTC down day has occurred only 23 times since early 2024. He likened current Ethereum to Amazon after the 2001 dot-com bubble burst: "Despite poor price performance, ETH's role as core infrastructure for stablecoins, RWA tokenization, and DeFi is strengthening, and internal metrics are improving." Standard Chartered maintained its year-end 2026 ETH price target of $4,000 and a 2030 target of $40,000, with the ETH/BTC ratio expected to rebound to 0.040 by year-end.
Staking Yield Makes ETH Treasury Firms 'Never Sell'
The bank broke down the structural difference between BTC and ETH corporate treasuries. BTC treasury firms like Strategy hold Bitcoin with zero native yield, forcing periodic small sales to pay preferred dividends or debt interest. In contrast, ETH treasury firms such as Bitmine Immersion and Sharplink earn about 3% annual yield from staking, covering expenses entirely without selling ETH. This structural advantage will lead to a repricing in capital markets.
Kendrick emphasized that the staking yield enables a "buy-only, never-sell" model for ETH treasury firms, making them financially more sustainable than Strategy's debt-and-sell approach. He predicted that the mNAV (net asset value multiple) of ETH treasury companies will soon surpass Strategy's, giving them cheaper equity financing. Standard Chartered asserted that yesterday marked the start of ETH outperforming BTC, with ETH set to reach $4,000 by year-end.