Ethereum’s price fell sharply on June 6, dropping close to the $2,400 level amid broader turmoil in the cryptocurrency market. The second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization saw its value plunge nearly 6% in just 24 hours, tumbling from a high of $2,634 to a low of $2,408, before slightly recovering to trade around $2,456.
This marked decline generated significant market reaction, with Ethereum’s daily trading volume spiking nearly 64% from the prior day, indicating heightened activity from traders navigating the volatility.
Over the past week, ETH has shed more than 6%, accumulating a broader 7.4% loss over the past 24 days, deflating recent bullish optimism. In late May, Ethereum briefly energized market participants by rallying to $2,731, triggering hopes among investors that it might soon push toward the $3,000 milestone, mirroring Bitcoin’s recent all-time high.
Ethereum is not alone in its downturn. Across the entire crypto market, valuations have suffered considerably in response to wider investor concerns. Between June 5 and 6, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization decreased almost 4%, falling from roughly $4.1 trillion down to $3.29 trillion. Bitcoin, the dominant cryptocurrency, also experienced downward pressure, retreating by 1.2% to approximately $103,438.
Market participants speculate that the recent turmoil stems primarily from the escalating feud involving high-profile figures Elon Musk and Donald Trump, following Musk’s public criticisms of President Trump’s newly-passed budget initiative, termed the Big Beautiful Bill. The perceived retaliation from President Trump revoking Jared Isaacman’s nomination for a prominent NASA role—Isaacman being a well-known Musk associate—has further shaken market confidence.
Ethereum’s ecosystem metrics reflect the market’s unsettling condition. Total value locked (TVL) on Ethereum-based decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols has declined almost 4% to $59.9 billion, according to DeFi Llama. By contrast, competitor Solana (SOL) currently maintains a much smaller TVL around $8 billion, though the decline has impacted Ethereum more heavily due to institutional scale.
Contrasting this negative momentum, Ethereum’s on-chain usage fees recently surged significantly despite declining asset values, increasing more than twofold from $853,320 on June 1 to $2.26 million on June 6.
Amid the volatility, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has publicly reflected on Ethereum’s comparative strengths and weaknesses. While asserting Ethereum’s advantages in security and resistance to censorship, Buterin acknowledged that Bitcoin still surpasses Ethereum in simplicity of programming, fewer protocol changes, a greater decentralized node count, and lower dependence on remote procedure call services.
