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The Ethereum price will be happy to see March come to a close after posting one of its worst first-quarter performances ever. According to CoinGlass data, the price of ETH is down by nearly 50% in the last three months.
While much of ETH’s struggles can be pegged to the uncertain climate of the general market, it is difficult to ignore its underwhelming performance even in the thick of the bull run. These struggles suggest the existence of deeper-lying issues with the second-most valuable crypto ecosystem.
Reasoning Behind The ‘Falling Expectations’ For ETH Price
American media giant Bloomberg is among the latest to weigh in on the struggles of the Ethereum ecosystem over the past year. In a March 29 report, Bloomberg assessed the performance of the ETH ecosystem, primarily comparing it with the premier cryptocurrency Bitcoin.
The Ethereum blockchain launched almost 10 years ago in July 2015, catching attention as a rival to Bitcoin for top spot in the cryptocurrency industry. Bloomberg said in its report that the ecosystem seems to be struggling to deliver on this early promise as it enters a new decade.
The global crypto landscape appears to be improving, especially following the election of Donald Trump as United States president.
Trump has been vocal about his pro-crypto stance. Thanks to what Bloomberg dubbed the “Trumpian Embrace,” crypto projects seem to be set for a transformed industry with clearer and less stringent regulations.
However, the American media company does not believe this “Trumpian Embrace” is enough to turn around the fortunes of Ethereum, which seems to be battling some functional issues. One of such problems is the continuous exodus of developers from the blockchain platform.
Data from Electric Capital shows that the number of active developers working on Ethereum-related software dropped by approximately in 2024. In contrast, the Solana network saw the influx of new developers in the past year, with an 83% year-over-year growth.
Bloomberg also highlighted some of the concerns with how the Ethereum Foundation (EF) is being run without enough regard for the price of ETH. For instance, the EF moved traffic to the layer-2 networks in a bid to make transactions cheaper on the blockchain.
Standard Chartered highlighted these upgrades, unfortunately, diverted activity and fees away from the underlying Ethereum network, which somewhat explains the bearish expectations for the ETH price.
Ethereum Price At A Glance
As of this writing, the price of ETH sits just above the $1,800 level, reflecting an over 3% slump in the past 24 hours. With the worsening market climate, the altcoin continues to dig deep for a new low in over a year.
The price of ETH on the daily timeframe | Source: ETHUSDT chart on TradingView
Featured image from iStock, chart from TradingView
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Despite a mild recovery to end the week, Bitcoin's recent dip came as the S&P 500 and equities continued to flourish. This has been a rare sight for the past 3 years, with most of crypto's runs coming in tandem. BTC lagging behind suggests an eventual bullish catch up period. 
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