A pointed critique from inside Ethereum's developer ranks argues that ether's 65% slide against Bitcoin since the Merge stems from specific execution failures at the Ethereum Foundation, not from broad market cycles or coordination problems. Reid, an ICO-era participant who still builds on Ethereum, published the indictment, framing the underperformance as accumulated execution debt with names, dates, and missed product calls. The ETH/BTC ratio peaked near 0.085 around the Merge in September 2022 and has fallen to roughly 0.028 by late May 2025. Reid rejects the framing of ether's 'deserved cap' as a noble ceiling, arguing it is lower for concrete reasons. Key failures include ESG marketing that did not address institutional needs, a missing first-party staking interface three years post-Merge, and the rollup-centric roadmap that drained base layer revenue. Ethereum's quarterly transaction fee revenue has fallen roughly 95% from a Q4 2021 peak. Reid contrasts this with Solana's integrated L1, where fee capture accrues directly to the native token. The remaining question is whether Foundation product cadence shifts, which the ETH/BTC ratio will reflect.

Key facts

• ETH/BTC ratio fell from 0.085 at Merge to 0.028 by late May 2025, a 65% decline.
• Critic cites missing first-party staking app three years after Merge as key failure.
• Ethereum quarterly fee revenue dropped 95% from Q4 2021 peak of $4.3 billion.
• Solana's integrated L1 captures fees directly to native token, unlike Ethereum's fragmented L2s.
• Rollup-centric roadmap drained base layer revenue and fragmented capital flows.

KeyAudit data perspective