We are never shy about keeping ETH to explain as Crypto’s second largest asset and defi intuition gateway for traditional investors. But mainstream adoption requires a growth story, and so far this year ETH (set kindly) is not to lead.

ETH sits in 16th place in Coindesk 20 YTD Performance Leaderboard, down 53%. When you go back for a year, the numbers look the same: 15th place and down 50%. Its market capital has subsided so much compared to XRP that both are expected to be uncovered in the upcoming Coindesk 20 Reconstitution, a first one.

Eth’s evil is news for few in the industry, but for us as index and product builders for “5%-ere” raises it question: is eth still particular? A prominent origin can only take you so far. ETH continues to dominate its on-chain categories (even before they are added to L2S) and is arguably the second best brand name in crypto. There are even thought-provoking ideas about ETH’s end state as an important supporting component of our blockchain future; We hear terms like “Ethereum will be the Clearing House for Defi.”

But mainstream adoption requires a growth history.

Over the past few weeks, we have observed that Bitcoin has shown impressive resilience to fragile global markets. This last week was no exception, and as we pointed out last week, expectations of higher inflation – now repeated by Fed -President Powell – could help support movement to Bitcoin.

But the crypto market’s dependence on Bitcoin to lead prices higher is one, we hope the digital asset class grows out. ETH can repeat a leadership position, as it briefly did in the weeks following the US election. If not, Coindesk 20 investors have exposed much of ETH’s competition.