The Federal Reserve has delivered the quarter-point rate cut markets demanded, and Ethereum is responding exactly as the “smart money” anticipated.

While Bitcoin effectively shrugs off the news near $92,000, Ethereum is holding its pre-meeting gains above $3,300, validating the sharp rotation seen in the 24 hours leading up to the decision.

This cut itself was merely a formality, as it had already been priced. However, its execution removes the final wall of worry for 2025 as it confirms that the easing cycle remains intact despite lingering inflation stickiness.

So, in this immediate post-decision window, Ethereum is acting as the market’s preferred high-duration asset, leveraging its sensitivity to liquidity conditions to outperform the broader crypto beta.

ETH’s spot-driven revaluation

The quality of this rally distinguishes it from the leverage-fueled breakouts seen earlier in 2025. Market structure data indicate this is a repricing of the asset, not a speculative squeeze.

According to CryptoQuant, funding rates across major derivatives exchanges remain subdued even as prices surge. This divergence is critical as earlier rallies this year often coincided with skyrocketing funding costs, a sign of exhaustion driven by over-eager longs.

However, the recent absence of “froth” suggests the bid is coming from spot buyers and institutional desks absorbing supply.

Indeed, this aligns with on-chain signals leading up to the meeting.

Santiment data reveals that large holders (known as whales and sharks) accumulated nearly 1 million ETH (valued at over $3.1 billion) in the three weeks leading up to this decision. These entities were positioning for a specific outcome: a Fed that prioritizes growth stability over aggressive disinflation.

Now that Powell has delivered that “put,” the $66.5 billion in stablecoin “dry powder” currently sitting on exchanges has the green light to be deployed.

In previous cycles, such a large overhang of idle capital often catalyzed sustained rotations once macro uncertainty cleared.

The revenue paradox

However, this bullish rotation forces institutional allocators to confront a glaring contradiction in Ethereum’s fundamentals: the collapse of Layer-1 revenue.

Following the Dencun upgrade, the economics of the Ethereum mainnet have shifted radically. While Layer-2 solutions like Coinbase-backed Base now process 94% of Ethereum network transactions, this activity no longer results in massive ETH fees.

According to Glassnode’s data, this has resulted in the blockchain network’s mainnet fees plummeting below 300 ETH per day on a 90-day moving average, the lowest level of revenue generation since 2017.

Strictly speaking, this weakens the “ultrasound money” narrative. Without high issuance fees to offset, ETH has flirted with becoming inflationary again.

Yet, the market’s response to the Fed cut suggests investors are looking past the yield-bearing “bond” narrative and valuing Ethereum as a growth-equity platform.

The bet is that the explosion in L2 activity, which makes the network cheaper and more usable for real-world tokenization and stablecoin usage, creates a stickier long-term moat than high gas fees ever did.

In a lower-rate environment, the market is willing to pay a premium for this ecosystem growth, even if the direct rent extraction has temporarily dipped.

This structural confidence is mirrored in corporate treasuries. Tom Lee’s BitMine Immersion Technologies, acting as a proxy for institutional demand, added roughly 138,452 ETH to its balance sheet last week.

With a total holding of 3.86 million ETH valued at $12 billion, this accumulation represents a mechanical removal of supply that complements the $177 million in daily inflows seen in spot Ethereum ETFs on Dec. 9.

The 2026 Projection

Meanwhile, the most significant takeaway from today’s meeting is not the cut itself, but the “dot plot” for 2026. The Fed has outlined a path of gradual easing, projecting rates to settle significantly lower over the next 18 months.

For crypto markets, the pace matters as much as the direction. A panic-induced slashing of rates would imply a recession—a scenario where all risk assets, including crypto, typically sell off.

Conversely, the “gradual” path outlined today signals that the economy is resilient enough to handle a measured descent. This is the “Goldilocks” scenario for Ethereum.

As real yields compress, the discount rate on future technology growth falls. Ethereum, with its correlation to tech-beta and duration, historically outperforms in this specific environment.

The ETH/BTC ratio, which has ticked up to 0.036, is reacting to this shift in cost-of-capital expectations. The ratio remains historically low, but the break above its trendline suggests the “underperformance trade” may have run its course.

The verdict

Jerome Powell has effectively provided the market with a roadmap for 2026 that favors risk-taking in established technology protocols.

The Fed’s willingness to tolerate “somewhat elevated” inflation to secure a soft landing reduces the appeal of holding cash and incentivizes a move further out on the risk curve.

Ethereum enters this post-FOMC window with a rare confluence of tailwinds: a spot-driven market structure, heavy institutional accumulation, and a macro environment that lowers the cost of capital for growth assets.

While the collapse in L1 revenue presents a long-term economic puzzle, the immediate market verdict is clear: the rotation has begun, and the “soft landing” trade is being expressed in ETH.