A new study from Glassnode suggests that the two biggest assets in crypto now serve such different purposes that comparing them as “similar investments” is becoming less meaningful.
Investors Treat Bitcoin Like Something They Don’t Want to Touch
Rather than circulating through the market, Bitcoin is increasingly disappearing into long-term storage. Wallets are moving coins off exchanges and into cold storage or multi-year holding patterns, and transaction activity involving older BTC keeps shrinking. The report describes this behavior as exactly what Bitcoin’s design intended — a monetary asset that people save rather than spend.
Glassnode argues that this trend was already in motion even before this week’s market decline. BTC holders, on average, appear comfortable waiting out volatility instead of reacting to it, which positions Bitcoin as the ecosystem’s slow-moving reserve asset rather than its transactional engine.
Ethereum’s Role Has Become the Opposite
Ethereum sits at the center of the active crypto economy, and Glassnode’s data reflects that constant movement. While Bitcoin is being tucked away, Ethereum is continuously pushed through smart contracts, DeFi platforms, tokenization systems and everyday gas fees. More than anything, demand for blockspace — not speculation — keeps ETH circulating.
This doesn’t come from a lack of conviction; the report notes that the ETH supply used for staking or held through ETFs is growing. Still, high-utility activity outweighs passive holding. In Glassnode’s words, ETH behaves like fuel for the on-chain economy rather than a vault-style savings instrument.
Long-Term Holders Behave Differently on Each Network
The most striking comparison is not trading volume, but how rarely investors touch their long-term reserves. Bitcoin holders who have already committed to storing coins barely move them. Ethereum holders in similar “long-term” categories interact with their coins roughly three times more often — a gap large enough that it can’t be explained by price action alone.
This suggests that even the most conviction-driven ETH users are still participants in the network economy, while Bitcoin holders primarily remain spectators until the market cycle shifts.
Both Assets Are Maturing — Just in Separate Directions
Glassnode does not frame ETH’s higher mobility as weakness. Roughly one quarter of the entire ETH supply is locked in staking or ETFs, which shows that store-of-value demand is real. What separates it from Bitcoin is utility: ETH is used because the network is used.
Bitcoin, on the other hand, is trending toward the digital equivalent of a savings bond — low churn, high retention, and a growing share of supply held outside of exchanges for years at a time.