Ether (ETH) has dropped 39% this year relative to bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency, taking the ratio between the two to the lowest in almost five years as a riskier macroeconomic environment weighs on the second-largest cryptocurrency.

At the current level, 1 ETH is the equivalent of 0.02191 BTC. That’s the least since May 2020, when ether was trading around $200 and bitcoin just under $10,000. Today the ETH price is about $1,800 and the BTC price around $82,000.

The underperformance is notable because it’s the first time ether has weakened against bitcoin in the 12 months after a BTC reward halving. On April 20, 2024, the payment Bitcoin miners received for confirming blocks on the blockchain was reduced by 50% to 3.125 BTC.

In previous halving cycles, ether outperformed bitcoin in the first year after a halving. This time, the ratio has dropped by more than 50%.

That’s partly because the threat of a tariff-driven trade war, persistent inflation and elevated bonds yields globally have driven investors to assets seen as more liquid and less risky. Gold, the ultimate haven, has climbed to record highs, and in the cryptocurrency market bitcoin is seen as a safer bet than ether.

This relative performance also marks one of ether’s worst quarterly performances against bitcoin in several years, according to data from Glassnode. The last time ether underperformed bitcoin to a similar degree was in the third quarter of 2019, when the ratio dropped to 0.0164, a quarterly decline of 46%.

This current slump mirrors the underperformance seen in 2019 and further highlights ether’s relative weakness, especially when compared to other layer-1 assets. The SOLETH ratio — measuring the value of Solana’s SOL relative to ether — is up 24% year-to-date to 0.07007. This indicates that SOL has significantly outperformed ether in 2025, despite the token itself itself being down 35% year-to-date.

UPDATE (March 31, 9:25 UTC): Adds macroeconomic environment in fifth paragraph.

Faint hopes of dogecoin (DOGE) being included in the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E.) were dented on Sunday as the department’s figurehead Elon Musk squashed any plans of adding the memecoin.

«There are no plans for the government to use dogecoin or anything,” Musk said during a speech at the America PAC town hall in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

“I was going to call it Government Efficiency Commission, but that’s a super boring name. Then the internet said it needs to be the Department of Government Efficiency. I was like Internet is right,” he added.

DOGE prices are down 3.5% in the past 24 hours, in line with a broader market drop. While there have been no firm plans to include the token in the controversial non-governmental agency, its introduction in August had sparked several namesake tokens and birthed the start of a multi-month rally in dogecoin.

The official site even sported a dogecoin logo for a few hours on the day after Trump’s inauguration, giving more credence to rumors of the joke token playing a role in the new agency.

D.O.G.E seeks to make government spending of taxpayer money more efficient while streamlining departments that handle spending. It has saved an estimated $130 billion after a formal start in January, data shows, with an average $840 saving for taxpayers.

Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) plans to reclassify cryptocurrencies as financial products under new rules, aimed at curbing insider trading in the digital asset market, per a Nikkei report on Sunday.

The move comes as part of a broader effort to strengthen oversight in Japan’s crypto ecosystem, which has witnessed growing adoption alongside a rise in fraudulent activities.

The FSA intends to submit amendments to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA) to Japan’s parliament as early as 2026, following a detailed review conducted by experts behind closed doors.

Cryptocurrencies are currently categorized as a «means of settlement» under the Payment Services Act, a designation that has governed their use primarily as a payment tool rather than as investment vehicles.

However, this existing classification has left gaps in regulatory oversight, particularly concerning activities like insider trading.

As such, specific details about the insider trading rules — such as what constitutes insider information in the crypto context or the penalties for violations — have not yet been disclosed, leaving room for further clarification as the proposal takes shape.