BTC Has Already Moved, Is ETH Instead the More Attractive Bet?

The prediction by Liquid Capital founder Yi Lihua has drawn attention because he is not merely looking at the continuation of the bull market, but expects BTC and ETH to potentially generate returns of more than 3x in this cycle, with ETH having greater upside potential than Bitcoin. The statement was made on August 24 after he observed a market recovery that he considered stronger than expected.
However, the more interesting perspective is not whether the 3x figure will actually be reached.
The question is: why could ETH outperform BTC when institutions have just resumed aggressively buying crypto assets?
Institutional capital is beginning to broaden
The week of August 17–21 provided an important clue. US spot Bitcoin ETFs received approximately US$1.92 billion, while Ethereum ETFs gained approximately US$697 million. Combined, the two reached approximately US$2.6 billion, making it one of the strongest inflow weeks since October 2025.
Bitcoin itself briefly touched approximately US$79,455, while ETH moved back above US$2,400.
What has changed is the direction of capital.
The market is no longer buying only Bitcoin as its primary asset. Exposure is beginning to expand into Ethereum and other digital assets. If this trend continues, ETH has room for a more aggressive catch-up rally.
Why is the ETH thesis attractive?
Ethereum has catalysts that differ from Bitcoin.
While Bitcoin is primarily positioned as a digital monetary asset, Ethereum has an additional thesis: on-chain financial infrastructure.
Stablecoins, asset tokenization, DeFi, and blockchain-based applications all require network infrastructure. Yi Lihua himself identifies the growth of stablecoin-based on-chain finance as one of the key opportunities in this bullish cycle. He also sees the combination of AI + Crypto as a source of new demand.
This creates two different growth engines:
BTC → scarcity + institutions + liquidity
ETH → institutions + on-chain activity + stablecoins + tokenization
If institutional capital flows broaden further, ETH could benefit from both sides.
But “3x” is not an automatically achievable target
This is where investors must distinguish between a bullish thesis and price certainty.
ETFs do show new demand, but much of last week’s increase in AUM also came from the appreciation of assets already held, rather than solely from new money. Of the approximately US$23 billion increase in combined BTC and ETH ETF AUM, only around US$2.6 billion came from net inflows.
This means momentum is indeed strong, but the market still needs sustained new demand to maintain the rally.
Conclusion
Yi Lihua’s thesis is compelling not because of the 3x figure, but because he sees the possibility of a phase shift in the crypto market.
Bitcoin may be the entry point for institutional capital. But if liquidity then moves deeper into on-chain economic infrastructure, ETH could become one of the biggest beneficiaries.
BTC may lead the rally. However, in the next phase, the more interesting question is whether ETH can catch up with—and ultimately outperform—Bitcoin in percentage gains.
To validate this thesis, three indicators are worth watching: ETH ETF flows, network/stablecoin activity, and the ETH/BTC ratio.
$BTC ‌#BTCBreaches69000Up6.43%