‘Ether Caught Fire’: ETH Surged as Capital Fled Bitcoin in Q3, CoinGecko Report Finds

What to know:

• Ethereum (ETH) led crypto's Q3 rally as investors shifted focus from bitcoin to altcoins, DeFi, and tokenized assets.
• The crypto market added over $500 billion in value, marking its second consecutive quarter of growth, largely without bitcoin at the forefront.
• CoinGecko's report highlights a broader reshaping of investor interest, with Ethereum gaining ground and new on-chain financial products gaining traction.

At the start of July, it looked like bitcoin would again set the pace. Its price hit new highs early in the quarter, buoyed by retail interest and institutional inflows through spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

But by September, the narrative had changed. While bitcoin cooled off, ether caught fire.

A combination of ETFdd demand, growing interest in tokenized real-world assets, and renewed attention from corporate treasuries helped ETH hit a fresh all-time high before settling back.

That shift in focus was one of the quarter’s defining trends, analysts at CoinGecko wrote.

Trading activity, which had fallen for two straight quarters, snapped back with strength. Spot volumes surged across centralized and decentralized exchanges. But the story wasn’t just about volume, it was about where that volume was going.

Meme coins, long considered fringe, made a dramatic return with tokens like M climbing the charts. Stablecoins like USDe gained ground, and lesser-known altcoins entered the top 30 by market cap. DeFi, which had faded from the spotlight in late 2024, mounted a comeback as total value locked in lending and staking protocols climbed alongside Ethereum’s rise, according to the report.