Bitcoin vs. Ethereum Statistics 2026: What Wins Big?

Bitcoin’s market capitalisation reached $1.28 trillion in Q2 2026, dominating 56.42% of the global cryptocurrency market, while Ethereum sat at approximately $202.9 billion and 8.86% dominance per CoinGecko data. The gap between the two largest crypto assets has remained wide through mid-2026, even as Ethereum’s L2 ecosystem and spot-ETF approvals reshape the technical and institutional surface.

The data below covers throughput, fees, energy consumption, decentralization, ETF flows, the ETH/BTC ratio, and correlation methodology, all dated, all attributed, and every figure traceable to a primary or near-primary source.

Key Takeaways

• Bitcoin’s market cap reached $1.28 trillion in Q2 2026 versus Ethereum’s approximately $202.9 billion, a roughly 6.3x gap at the snapshot date.
• Bitcoin held 56.42% dominance of the global crypto market cap while Ethereum held 8.86%, leaving the two assets at a combined roughly 65% of total market value.
• Ethereum‘s real-time throughput is 25.82 tx/s versus Bitcoin’s 12.42 tx/s, a roughly 2.08x gap before Layer 2 transactions enter the math.
• The Merge reduced Ethereum’s annualized electricity consumption by more than 99.988%, leaving the network at approximately 0.0026 TWh/yr versus Bitcoin’s 149 TWh annual consumption per the Cambridge CBECI.
• Ethereum’s validator set sits at approximately 887,926 active validators staking 39.5 million ETH (32.42% of supply) at a 2.79% APR, while Bitcoin’s block production runs through 145 miners with a Nakamoto coefficient of 4.
• US spot Bitcoin ETFs hold approximately 1.277 million BTC and $75.1 billion in AUM after the early-June 2026 redemptions, with IBIT carrying nearly $75 billion AUM and approximately 700,000 BTC held versus ETHA’s approximately $11.1 billion in assets.

Editor’s Choice

• Bitcoin market cap: $1.28 trillion (CoinGecko, Q2 2026).
• Ethereum market cap: approximately $202.9 billion (CoinGecko, Q2 2026).
• Bitcoin all-time high: $125,835.92 on October 6, 2025.
• Bitcoin average transaction fee: $0.4849 per transaction as of June 4, 2026, per YCharts.
• Ethereum staked supply: 39.5 million ETH (32.42% of supply).
• IBIT cumulative US spot Bitcoin ETF AUM: nearly $75 billion with approximately 700,000 BTC held in June 2026.
• ETH/BTC ratio: dropped to 0.02835 in May 2026, its lowest level since July 2025.

Recent Developments

• June 2026: US spot Bitcoin ETFs saw a redemption streak that pulled $4.4 billion over 13 consecutive trading days, with IBIT the largest contributor.
• May 28, 2026: IBIT saw a $527.84 million outflow, its second-largest daily redemption.
• May 12, 2026: The ETH/BTC ratio fell to 0.02835, down more than 35% from its August 2025 peak of 0.04324.
• April 2026: US spot Bitcoin ETFs pulled $1.97 billion in net inflows, the best month of 2026 to date.
• March 12, 2026: BlackRock launched ETHB, the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF, with $107 million in seed capital.
• January 5, 2026: Grayscale renamed ETHE to the “Grayscale Ethereum Staking ETF”.

Market Cap and Dominance

Bitcoin’s market value led every other crypto asset at the Q2 2026 snapshot, with a market cap of $1.28 trillion representing 56.42% of the $2.27 trillion global cryptocurrency market. Ethereum, the second-largest asset, sat at approximately $202.9 billion with 8.86% dominance. CoinGecko’s 2026 Q1 Crypto Industry Report noted total crypto market capitalization fell 20.4% to end Q1 2026 at $2.4 trillion, leaving the asset class roughly 45% below its October 2025 peak. Bitcoin dominance has trended in the 56-57% range through mid-2026.

Source: CoinGecko, TradingView Hub

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Circulating Supply and Issuance Schedule

• Bitcoin: 21 million BTC supply cap; approximately 19.7 million BTC in circulation post-halving.
• Ethereum: no fixed supply cap; approximately 120.7 million ETH in circulation (Q2 2026).
• Bitcoin annual issuance rate: approximately 0.83% after the April 2024 halving.
• Next Bitcoin halving: April 2028 at block height 1,050,000.

Bitcoin’s fourth block reward halving took place on April 20, 2024, at block height 840,000, reducing the block reward from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. The halving cut daily issuance from approximately 900 BTC/day to about 450 BTC/day, and the annualized supply inflation rate dropped to around 0.83%. The next halving is expected around April 2028 at block height 1,050,000.

Source: bitcoin.org protocol, ethereum.org, CoinGecko

Ethereum follows a structurally different model. There is no fixed supply cap; instead, issuance pays validator rewards while EIP-1559’s base-fee burn removes ETH from circulation. Approximately 120.7 million ETH is in circulation as of the Q2 2026 snapshot. The Merge switched Ethereum from proof of work to proof of stake on September 15, 2022, and since EIP-1559, Ethereum has had a base fee (burned) plus an optional priority fee (tip to validators).

Transaction Throughput (TPS)

• Bitcoin real-time TPS: 12.42 tx/s (1H window, June 2026).
• Ethereum real-time TPS: 25.82 tx/s, approximately 2.08x Bitcoin.
• Ethereum max TPS (100 blocks): 74.91 tx/s versus Bitcoin’s 13.2 tx/s.
• Bitcoin throughput is approximately 52% lower than Ethereum’s current processing speed.

Bitcoin’s real-time TPS over the latest 1-hour window is 12.42 tx/s, with max TPS over the last 100 blocks at 13.2 tx/s and a max theoretical TPS of 7 tx/s. Ethereum’s real-time TPS over the same window is 25.82 tx/s, with max TPS at 74.91 tx/s and a max theoretical TPS of 238.1 tx/s.

Source: Chainspect, 2026-06-14 snapshot

The headline gap: Ethereum runs about 2.08x Bitcoin’s real-time throughput, and about 5.67x the peak over a 100-block window. Per Chainspect’s comparison view, Bitcoin’s throughput is approximately 52% lower than Ethereum’s current transaction processing speed. These figures apply to Layer 1 only. The PoW and PoS breakdown covers the consensus-mechanism differences in detail.

Block Time and Time-to-Finality

• Bitcoin block time: 6 minutes 56 seconds (1H window, June 2026).
• Ethereum block time: 12.04 seconds.
• Bitcoin time-to-finality: 1 hour; Ethereum: 12 minutes 48 seconds.
• Bitcoin block confirmation takes roughly 35 times longer than Ethereum’s.

Bitcoin’s block time over the latest 1-hour window is 6 minutes 56 seconds versus Ethereum’s 12.04s. Time-to-finality (the duration after which a transaction is practically irreversible) sits at 1 hour for Bitcoin and 12 minutes 48 seconds for Ethereum.

Source: Chainspect, 2026-06-14 snapshot

Bitcoin’s block confirmation takes roughly 35 times longer than Ethereum’s, reflecting their different design philosophies, and Bitcoin requires approximately 4.7 times longer to achieve transaction finality compared to Ethereum’s probabilistic finality model. The trade-off here is architectural, not a bug: longer block times raise security margins; shorter block times raise settlement speed. Neither network is “winning”, they are optimizing for different settlement profiles.

Total Transactions Since Launch

Bitcoin has processed 1.37 billion total transactions since its January 3, 2009 launch, while Ethereum has processed 3.52 billion total transactions since its July 30, 2015 launch. Ethereum has therefore moved more than 2x Bitcoin’s lifetime transaction count in about two-thirds of the elapsed network time, a function of the higher TPS plus a richer smart-contract surface.

Source: Chainspect chain data

Transaction Fees on Mainnet

Bitcoin’s average transaction fee was $0.4849 per transaction as of June 4, 2026, per YCharts on-chain tracking. Ethereum gas fees are variable and depend on network congestion; a basic ETH transfer cost about $0.01 in January 2026 and around $0.20 in late February. The bigger story sits on Layer 2: Layer 2 networks cut transaction costs by about 97 to 99% versus mainnet, which is how Ethereum effectively answers Bitcoin’s lower base-fee profile on dollar-denominated transfers.

Source: YCharts indicator, ethereum.org, L2Beat

Energy Consumption Per Year

Ethereum’s energy consumption is approximately ~0.0026 TWh/yr across the entire global network per ethereum.org, citing a CCRI (Crypto Carbon Ratings Institute) study. The Merge reduced Ethereum’s annualized electricity consumption by more than 99.988%, and Ethereum’s carbon footprint was decreased by approximately 99.992% (from 11,016,000 to 870 tonnes CO2e). By comparison, Bitcoin’s annualized consumption is 149 TWh per the Cambridge CBECI, a ratio Ethereum.org’s comparison table puts at roughly 53,000 times Ethereum’s footprint. For full disclosure: Ethereum energy consumption statistics on this site track the post-Merge trajectory at finer granularity than this Stats roundup needs.

By the numbers: ethereum.org reports Ethereum’s annualized electricity use at approximately 0.0026 TWh/yr versus the Cambridge CBECI’s estimate for Bitcoin at 149 TWh, a 53,000x ratio that opened up after the September 2022 Merge cut Ethereum’s annualized consumption by more than 99.988%.

Source: ethereum.org, Cambridge CBECI, Crypto Carbon Ratings Institute

Hashrate vs Validator Count

• Bitcoin hashrate: approximately 1,190 EH/s; approximately 145 miners producing blocks.
• Ethereum: approximately 888,100 validators; 39.5 million ETH staked (32.42% of supply).
• Ethereum staking APR: 2.79% per beaconcha.in (June 2026).
• Validator requirement: 32 ETH per validator.

Bitcoin’s security model rests on hashrate, the aggregate computing power dedicated to mining. Bitcoin’s current hashrate sits at approximately 1,190 EH/s (1,190 EH/s) per Chainspect, with late-2025 peaks above 1 zetahash per second (1,000 EH/s) before easing into 2026. The network has approximately 145 miners producing those blocks.

Source: Chainspect, ethereum.org, beaconcha.in

Ethereum’s security model rests on staked ETH. Ethereum has approximately 888,100 validators per Chainspect, and approximately 887,926 active validators staking 39.5 million ETH (32.42% of supply) at a 2.79% APR per ethereum.org. Each validator requires 32 ETH to process and attest to Ethereum blocks.

Nakamoto Coefficient and Block-Production Decentralization

• Bitcoin Nakamoto coefficient: 4 (top four mining pools).
• Ethereum Nakamoto coefficient: 1 (single dominant execution client, Geth).
• Block-producer count: 145 Bitcoin miners versus 888,100 Ethereum validators.

The Nakamoto coefficient is the minimum number of independent entities that would need to collude to compromise a blockchain. Bitcoin’s Nakamoto coefficient is 4; the top four mining pools could theoretically coordinate a majority-share attack. Ethereum’s Nakamoto coefficient is 1, reflecting that a single execution-client codebase (Geth) runs on a majority of validators; a critical bug in one client could halt the chain even though the validator count is much larger.

Source: Chainspect chain data

These numbers tell two different stories about the same idea. Bitcoin’s lower Nakamoto coefficient reflects mining-pool consolidation; Ethereum’s reflects client-software concentration. Decentralization is multi-dimensional, and one-number readings are necessarily incomplete.

Ethereum Layer 2 Scaling Ecosystem

• 73 active rollups secured combined TVL above $48 billion (April-May 2026, L2Beat).
• Arbitrum One leads: approximately $15.9 to $16.9 billion TVL (40 to 44% of L2 market).
• Base: $10.7 to $12.8 billion TVL; 12.89 million daily transactions.
• OP Mainnet: approximately 2.35 million daily transactions.

Ethereum’s effective scaling answer to Bitcoin’s lower L1 fee profile is the Layer 2 rollup stack. Per L2Beat, 73 active rollups secured combined TVL above $48 billion as of April-May 2026. Arbitrum One leads with approximately $15.9 to $16.9 billion in TVL, representing roughly 40 to 44% of the entire L2 market. Base holds the second position at $10.7 to $12.8 billion in TVL.

The user-activity picture inverts on daily transactions: Base leads with 12.89 million daily transactions versus Arbitrum’s 4.30 million, and OP Mainnet has approximately 2.35 million daily transactions. Daily transactions on L2s recorded as high as 1.9 million transactions per day in 2025, eclipsing the Ethereum mainnet. The DeFi protocols running on top of those rollups route a meaningful share of stablecoin volume through L2s.

Spot ETF AUM and BTC/ETH Held

• US spot Bitcoin ETFs: approximately 1.277 million BTC and $75.1 billion AUM (June 5, 2026).
• BlackRock IBIT: nearly $75 billion AUM; approximately 700,000 BTC held (June 2026).
• BlackRock ETHA: approximately $11.1 billion AUM; approximately $190 million daily volume (June 2026).
• ETHB launched March 12, 2026, with $107 million seed capital.

US spot Bitcoin ETFs launched in January 2024; spot Ethereum ETFs followed later that year. Both products gave traditional brokerage accounts direct exposure to the underlying assets. US spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted $58.72 billion in cumulative net inflows from their January 2024 launch through May 4, 2026, per SoSoValue. Combined US spot Bitcoin ETF holdings sat at approximately 1.277 million BTC and $75.1 billion AUM after the June 5, 2026 redemptions. BlackRock’s IBIT carried nearly $75 billion in assets under management and approximately 700,000 BTC during the June 2026 period.

Why it matters: The IBIT-versus-ETHA gap (approximately $75 billion to $11.1 billion in June 2026, per BlackRock disclosures and SoSoValue) is one data point in the institutional-flows comparison. It reflects launch-timing differences, marketing intensity, and underlying asset preferences, not a verdict on either asset’s investment merit.

Source: BlackRock IR, SEC filings, SoSoValue

On the Ethereum side, BlackRock’s ETHA held $6.07 billion in net assets as of February 27, 2026, with 417,560,000 shares outstanding; ETHA managed approximately $7.46 billion in net assets by March 16, 2026, with over 423 million shares outstanding; and ETHA holds approximately $11.1 billion in assets and trades approximately $190 million daily as of June 2026.

ETH/BTC Ratio and Correlation

The ETH/BTC ratio measures ether’s value relative to bitcoin and is the cleanest single-number proxy for relative performance, reading between the two largest crypto assets. Per industry tracking, the ETH/BTC ratio is widely watched as a gauge of market risk appetite. The ratio dropped to 0.02835 on Tuesday in May 2026, its lowest level since July 2025, down more than 35% from its August 2025 peak of 0.04324. Earlier in 2026, the ratio traded near 0.0313 in April, up from a 2026 low around 0.028 in February but still well below the January 18 high near 0.038.

How Does the Bitcoin-Ethereum Correlation Coefficient Change by Time Window?

The correlation is methodology-sensitive. Industry trackers report a 3-month rolling correlation of 0.98 on price-level co-movement and as low as 0.32 on short-window log returns. Price-level captures long-cycle alignment; log returns capture day-to-day covariance. Index-style institutional buyers holding BTC and ETH in market-weight proportion keep prices tightly linked, pushing the reading toward 1.0 even when daily returns diverge.

Is ETH Going to Outperform Bitcoin?

The honest answer is that this article cannot tell you. What the data shows is the trajectory of the ETH/BTC ratio: a falling ratio means ETH is underperforming BTC over the window; a rising ratio means the inverse. The ratio has fallen from the August 2025 peak of 0.04324 to 0.02835 in May 2026, a multi-month underperformance. Whether that pattern continues is a forecasting question outside the scope of a Stats roundup. The dated readings above are what the data says, not what it implies for any forward-looking position.

Returns and Drawdown Context

Bitcoin’s all-time high was $125,835.92 on October 6, 2025, with some sources reporting $126,198. Total cryptocurrency market capitalization fell 20.4% to end 2026 Q1 at $2.4 trillion, leaving the asset class roughly 45% below its October 2025 peak. The first quarter of 2026 saw the cryptocurrency market transition from a sharp correction into a sustained “crypto winter”. The drawdown context applies to the asset class as a whole; individual-asset returns vary. Stats roundups present dated price readings, not investment outlooks. Position sizing, time horizon, risk tolerance, and tax exposure sit outside the scope of comparative data.

Source: CoinGecko 2026 Q1 Crypto Industry Report

Is Bitcoin More Decentralized Than Ethereum at the Block-Production Layer?

It depends on which axis of decentralization is measured. By participant count, Ethereum is more decentralized: Ethereum has 888,100 validators versus Bitcoin’s 145 miners. By concentration of the entity that could halt block production, Bitcoin’s Nakamoto coefficient is 4 (the top four mining pools) and Ethereum’s is 1 (the single dominant execution client).

The cleanest reading is that Ethereum spreads block production across many more independent parties at the validator layer, while Bitcoin sits with a smaller miner set but a less concentrated software stack. Different axes of the same idea give different answers, and neither network owns “decentralization” outright.

Conclusion

Bitcoin at $1.28 trillion market cap and 56.42% dominance versus Ethereum at approximately $202.9 billion and 8.86% dominance is the headline gap, but the data underneath shows two networks optimizing for different things: Bitcoin for L1 settlement security with longer block times and a finite issuance schedule; Ethereum for higher base-layer throughput with a richer smart-contract surface and 73 active rollups securing more than $48 billion in TVL. The institutional-flows picture (IBIT at nearly $75 billion versus ETHA at approximately $11.1 billion in June 2026) reflects timing and product maturity more than a verdict on either asset.

The trajectory worth watching sits at three boundaries: The ETH/BTC ratio (covered above), spot Ethereum ETF AUM growth, and the Ethereum L2 scaling stack. Each is a data point, not a directional call.