According to the bank, altcoins show structural weakness from 2023.
Ethereum updates such as Glamsterdam and Hegota do not guarantee greater activity on the network.
The performance of ether and altcoins could continue to underperform that of bitcoin (BTC) if activity on cryptocurrency networks does not increase sustainably, according to a JPMorgan report published on May 14, 2026.
The bank’s analysts, led by director Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, point out that, despite the general market recovery after the impact of the conflict in Iran, bitcoin continues to show stronger performance than the rest of the digital assets from 2023.
He reportrevealed by The Block, argues that this difference could only be reversed if the real use of networks increasesespecially in applications, decentralized finance and transactional activity.
In that context, bitcoin has outperformed ether in both exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and institutional futures positioning. These contracts, traded on the CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange), reflect the exposure of large investors through financial derivatives. According to JPMorgan, bitcoin ETFs have recovered about two-thirds of the outflows recorded after the market correction, while ether ETFs have recovered only about a third.
In that same line, bitcoin futures positioning has almost completely recoveredwhile that of ether remains below previous levels. The bank interprets this behavior as a greater institutional preference for bitcoin over ether.
Likewise, the report adds that the market continues in a phase of risk reduction after episodes of “deleveraging”, that is, processes in which investors reduce exposure or leverage.
In the case of altcoins, JPMorgan attributes their weakness since 2023 to factors such as lower liquidity, lower market depth, limited growth of activity in decentralized finance and multiple security incidents. Together, these elements have reduced capital inflows into the broader ecosystem of cryptocurrency networks.
On Ethereum, the report notes that upcoming protocol upgrades, such as Glamsterdam and Hegota, may not be enough to change their relative performance versus bitcoin, since technical improvements have not been able to translate into a sustained increase in activity on the network.
It is worth noting that, although JPMorgan questions Ethereum’s ability to generate sufficient activity, the bank recently launched a tokenized monetary fund on the network, intended to support stablecoins, using Ethereum infrastructure for its operation, as reported by CriptoNoticias.
According to the bank’s readings, if the next Ethereum updates fail to clearly expand the use of the network, the market could consolidate greater dominance of bitcoin and an environment where altcoins are more exposed to liquidity cycles and less to technological narratives.