Ethereum At $1,808, Faces Hard Truths About Imitating XRP, Says Solana’s Co-Founder

 Let’s explore why Solana’s co-founder believes Ethereum price struggles around $1,808 and why it cannot follow XRP’s sentiment-driven strategy for success.
Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko has recently shared his view on Ethereum (ETH) that it cannot mirror the XRP strategy to achieve success in the current crypto world. On the social media platform X, Yakovenko wrote, “They’re different assets with unique features (eg, strong digital gold meme, good story, strong retail trader community, etc) that your asset apparently doesn’t have.” He further added, “Unique outliers do not mean that these rules apply to everyone. This is just a denial excuse to ignore problems.” Along with this post, several posts in the thread he shared and explained about irrational market behavior witnessed elsewhere do not guarantee that the same can be engineered for Ethereum. 

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>I see this all the time in Ethereum:<br><br>“BTC/XRP/etc is valuable &amp; they don’t have ‘fundamentals’, so why should ETH need it?”<br><br>It’s illogical &amp; needs to die <br><br>Imagine Bezos on an earnings call going “ya GME/AMC stock ripped without earnings, so we don’t need to make $$ either now” <a href=”https://t.co/2VByjGm9Jf”>https://t.co/2VByjGm9Jf</a></p>&mdash; Jon Charbonneau 🇺🇸 (@jon_charb) <a href=”https://twitter.com/jon_charb/status/1916227139818688904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>April 26, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>

Malekan Highlights Sentiment-Driven Valuations

This discussion was fueled when Omid Malekan, an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School, shared his criticism of the inconsistent way in which Ethereum market trends seem to be underperforming. Malekan shed light on the fact that Ethereum’s struggles are often tied to fundamental weaknesses in comparison to sentiment-driven assets like XRP, which continue to thrive without facing similar scrutiny. 

Malekan made an observation that XRP’s fully diluted valuation (FDV) has surpassed that of ETH despite a corporation holding a large sum of XRP supply. He criticized this phenomenon and called it “narratives” and “vibes,” often outright actual fundamentals in determining asset prices, calling the crypto market immature. He wrote on X, “Unlike other dubious coins (like Ondo) we can’t ascribe the strength of XRP to low float or insider manipulation. It’s literally one of the most accessible and liquid coins out there.” 

He further added, “And the market keeps pricing it as being highly valuable – closer to its ATH than SOL. This despite the fact that a corporation owns half the supply and can mint infinite more if it wanted to. So pray tell – what is it about RippleNet that is so well designed, capturing value for token holders? Or is it just that crypto markets remain deeply immature, and narratives, sentiment…”

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>I enjoyed the Chopping Block convo with <a href=”https://twitter.com/TheStalwart?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@TheStalwart</a> but it remains maddening to me how people keep ascribing the underperformance of ETH to poor chain design and falling fundamentals without addressing XRP.<br><br>Not only is XRP the 3rd most valuable chain with a higher FDV than ETH,…</p>&mdash; Omid Malekan 🧙🏽‍♂️ (@malekanoms) <a href=”https://twitter.com/malekanoms/status/1916133105972424837?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>April 26, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>

Solana Co-Founder Emphasizes Modeling Value

To this comment and view, Solana co-founder Yakovenko responded in a more technical manner and pointed out that, without being able to accurately model why cryptocurrencies like XRP or Bitcoin have value, it is impossible to recreate their success or effectively compete against them. Overall, his post-conclusion is that the XRP approach is unlikely to be replicated for ETH, as he points out the importance of different fundamentals for each blockchain. 

Ethereum Price: Faces Severe Technical Pressure

Meanwhile, the Ethereum market trends have struggled due to technical hurdles despite having a brief rally earlier in April. ETH has a problem in maintaining momentum and remains trapped under key moving averages. ETH, according to Cryptoverse data, is trading below the crucial levels such as the 8, 20, and 50-week simple moving averages (SMAs). Its price has, for a long time, faced rejection at points between $1,850 and $1,900 and is unable to break this resistance zone. As of April 27, 2025, Ethereum is priced at $1,820. This technical setup suggests a strong bearish trend that will be hard to reverse without a major pusher of the Ethereum price. 

Ethereum Risks Further Downside Without Breakout

With current Ethereum market trends on the downside and the Ethereum price at $1,820, it remains stuck in a narrow range between $1,750 and $1,900. Analysts have warned that without any major push or a breakout above the $2000 mark, downward risk will continue to dominate. Unless broader market sentiment shifts drastically, Ethereum may struggle to participate meaningfully in any major cryptocurrency rally in the near future.