On September 22, Bitwise said in a Tuesday report that the second-largest cryptocurrency Ethereum currently seems neglected, but the situation of Ethereum's poor performance may reverse as the year comes to a close.

Ethereum has remained nearly flat so far this year, while Bitcoin has risen 38% and Solana has surged 31%. The report attributes Ethereum's recent underperformance to risks associated with the November US presidential election, intensifying competition from Solana and other blockchains, challenges to its token economics, and mixed reactions to the potential launch of US spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

"Ethereum has the most active developers, the most active users, and a market cap five times larger than its closest competitor," wrote Matt Hougan, Bitwise's chief investment officer. "It's like Microsoft (MSFT) of the blockchain space," Hougan wrote. "Everyone wants to talk about the newer companies and their game-changing technologies, like Google (GOOG), Slack (WORK), and Zoom (ZM)," but "Microsoft is still larger than all of them combined."