1345 ET - The movements of bitcoin and ethereum--two of the largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization--have diverged in recent months. Since the start of the year, bitcoin is virtually flat, while ethereum has tumbled nearly 48%, according to data from CoinMarketCap. This difference in performance has brought the spread between bitcoin and ethereum prices to the largest since before the pandemic, and reveals the change in market perception around the roles of these tokens. That's partially because of ethereum's mechanisms which are eliciting higher regulatory scrutiny and therefore lower fund-investor interest, says Quasar Elizundia of Pepperstone in a note. "Without a comparable institutional catalyst or greater regulatory clarity, Ethereum may continue to lag," he says. Ethereum is down 2% over the past 24 hours, while bitcoin is down 0.4%. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 28, 2025 13:45 ET (17:45 GMT)
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