BroadChain has learned that on April 16, the ETH/BTC exchange rate climbed to a 10-week high, with Ethereum recently outpacing Bitcoin. The ratio broke above the resistance of its long-term downtrend line—in place since August 2025—and moved decisively above both the 50-day and 100-day exponential moving averages.
According to XWIN Research, a key catalyst was a staff statement from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on April 13. The statement clarified that DeFi front-ends and wallet interfaces are not required to register as broker-dealers, provided they meet conditions like operating non-custodially and maintaining neutral fee structures—a development that significantly bolstered sentiment around Ethereum.
On-chain data reveals a growing number of active addresses, while the Coinbase premium gap is also recovering, signaling a resurgence in U.S. institutional demand. Enterprise-level accumulation is accelerating: Bitmine, for instance, acquired 279,000 ETH over the past 30 days and now holds 4.87 million ETH—over 4% of the circulating supply.
In the futures market, global ETH open interest stands at $16.37 billion, with funding rates remaining negative, indicating a dominance of short positions. However, open interest on Binance surged 10.47% to $6.04 billion, and its funding rate turned positive. This has created a notable imbalance between global short positioning and long exposure concentrated on Binance.