Ethereum’s 2025 Crash Wipes Out All 2024 Gains: What Happened?

The crypto market took a hit in early 2025 in contrast to the late 2024 highs it achieved. The total crypto market cap dropped over 18% in Q1 falling to $2.8 trillion at the close of Q1, after it briefly touched $3.8 trillion high in January. 

Even with the market slump, Bitcoin’s dominance surged to 59.1%, which is its highest since 2021. 

Ethereum Struggles Dropping 45% in Q1

Ethereum fell by a sharp 3.9 percentage points, falling to just 7.9% in market dominance. This marks Ether’s lowest share since late 2019 which shows its sluggish performance amidst the broader market downturn.

Ethereum plummeted 45.3% in Q1 2025, closing at $1,805, wiping out all its 2024 gains. It massively underperformed cryptos like Bitcoin, Solana, XRP, and Binance Coin, which recorded minimum declines. Its trading volume also dropped from $30 billion in Q4 2024 to $24.4 billion in the latest quarter.

Whale Activity Worsens the Drop

Additionally, recent data from lookonchain reveals that a wallet linked to the Ethereum Foundation deposited 1,000 $ETH worth $1.58M to Kraken, which could trigger a drop in price. 

Ethereum Foundation (EF) faced criticism in 2024 for offloading 4,466 ETH worth $12.61 million during bearish market conditions. These sales have historically been followed by sharp price drops, adding more pressure to already lagging Ether.

Veteran trader Peter Brandt also recently warned that Ether could crash to $800, revisiting its 2022 lows. ETH is now over 60% below its 2021 peak of $4,878, with most of the losses in just the last three months. The token is currently trading at $1,757, down over 2% today.