Is Ethereum ‘underpriced’ against Bitcoin? Here’s what analysts say

• Analyst claims that an ‘approved’ ETH ETF could attract inflows from US spot BTC ETFs.
• Another analyst claims that ETH ETFs might not see outflows like in the GBTC case. 

According to crypto analyst and founder of Lekker Capital, Quinn Thompson, Ethereum [ETH] was grossly undervalued against Bitcoin [BTC].

Citing the recent update on potential ETH ETF approval and expected capital inflows, Thompson claimed,

‘This leads me to believe that ETHBTC at 0.05 is still underpriced, particularly given we are in a bull market’ 

The ETHBTC ratio tracks ETH’s performance in BTC terms. An increasing value suggests that ETH is outperforming BTC. However, a drop in the ratio implies that BTC is eclipsing ETH on the price charts. 

The ETHBTC ratio dropped to a low of 0.45 on the 16th of May. However, it has since recovered to above 0.50 following a recent update on ETH ETF approval. 

ETF to boost ETH price?

Thompson claimed that ETH hasn’t been able to attract enough flows because of a lack of ETFs, and the market was obsessed with BTC and Solana [SOL]. 

‘The reason ETH was the ugly middle child between BTC and SOL for the past 6 months was the lack of inflows from an ETF’

However, market watchers have mixed views on whether ETH ETFs will follow the BTC ETF’s path.

After being converted to an ETF in January, GBTC recorded about $17 billion in cumulative outflows as of the 21st of May.  

Will Grayscale’s Ethereum Trust (ETHE) face a similar fate and dent ETH’s upside potential? 

Crypto analyst James Van Straten was conflicted about the possible outcome.

Instead, Straten mentioned that the proposed Grayscale Mini Trust (ETH) could alleviate issues like fees that led to massive outflows in GBTC.  

‘The mini trust $ETH may launch at the same time with smaller fees, and investors don’t need to do anything, which wasn’t available for $GBTC.’

The proposed Mini Trust will be a spin-off from the Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE). 

Interestingly, Thompson projected that ETH could attract about 9% of inflows from spot BTC ETFs in the first four months after ‘approval.’

If confirmed, the ETHBTC ratio could increase from the current 0.53, fueling the ETH value. 

A Standard Chartered executive held the same bullish stance on ETH post-ETF.

In an interview with The Block, Standard Chartered’s head of Digital Assets Research, Geoff Kendrick, claimed that ETH ETF could be approved this week. 

Kendrick maintained that ETH could hit $8000 by year-end. He added that ETH ETFs could attract ‘roughly $15 billion to $45 billion’ in inflows in the first 12 months. 

That said, whether ETH eclipses BTC post-ETF launch remains to be seen. In the meantime, the market will focus on the SEC’s decision on the 23rd of May on VanEck’s ETH ETF application.