Bitget's Gracy Chen believed in Ethereum when no one did

Bitget’s Gracy Chen believed in Ethereum when no one did originally appeared on TheStreet.

When Ethereum was stuck around $1,800, Gracy Chen still believed in it.

It was during Token2049 in early May when TheStreet Roundtable sat down with the Bitget CEO—ETH was trading sideways, Bitcoin had already crossed $100K, and the entire market had seemingly crowned BTC as the one true asset. Ethereum, meanwhile, had gone quiet.

But not for Gracy.

“I don’t think it’s a dead coin,” she said during our chat in Dubai. “There’s still possibility for an altcoin season and also for the ETH/BTC trading pair to go much higher than it is today. But I just don’t know when that might happen.”

At the time, Ether had been stuck in the $1,500 to $2,000 range for months. Even now, it’s hovering around $2,755, as per Kraken’s price feeds, which is up from May, but still trading 43% below its all-time high of $4,878. For a coin that was once seen as the smart contract revolution, this kind of stagnation has sparked doubts from all corners.

But Gracy wasn’t one of them.

As CEO of Bitget, a platform that’s grown from 25 million to 120 million users under her leadership, Gracy has no shortage of data or perspective. And still, while most of the world doubled down on Bitcoin, she quietly held onto Ethereum.

The reason? Institutions.

“Lots of adoption and capital inflow came from institutional clients and they are most comfortable holding and buying Bitcoin,” she said.

That’s been the core of Ethereum’s problem this cycle. BlackRock’s ETF opened the floodgates for BTC, and 75 public companies now hold it on their balance sheets. Ether? Not even close. A few firms have added small amounts of ETH and Solana to their reserves, but nothing on the scale of Bitcoin’s treasury adoption.

Still, Gracy’s confidence hasn’t wavered.

“I know there are institutions who are considering it,” she said. “But in terms of quantities, definitely not as much as Bitcoin.”

She didn’t sugarcoat Ethereum’s challenges either—especially when it comes to leadership. “Ethereum Foundation has their own issue,” she said. “We want to see how the leader, especially the new president, can lead the team. Hopefully she can make lots of innovations.”

That was a rare, honest acknowledgment from a major exchange CEO: belief in the tech, but realistic about the hurdles.

Gracy also understands that price movements in this cycle have been driven more by macro conditions than pure fundamentals. “Lots of price changes this year—not just Bitcoin, but all cryptocurrencies—came from macroeconomic factors,” she noted. “When does the US start the interest rate cut? How’s the trade war going?”

Price prediction

And when pressed her on where ETH might go next, she didn’t offer a grand price target or flashy headline number. She just shrugged and smiled.

“I actually don’t [have a price prediction],” she added. “My personal portfolio is largely in Bitcoin.”

But that’s exactly what made her belief in Ethereum stand out. She didn’t need to be overexposed to it to recognize its potential. In a market where loud predictions and hype usually grab the spotlight, she chose to wait—and watch.

“I do buy and sell and hold,” she added. “But I’m more of an exchange CEO rather than a trader… I probably trade much worse than some of you.”

Today, ETH is up more than 50% from when we spoke. And while that still doesn’t put it anywhere near Bitcoin’s explosive run, it does show signs of life—and maybe even a slow momentum shift.

So if Ethereum does come roaring back this cycle, don’t be surprised if Gracy Chen is already ahead of the curve.

She saw it when no one else did.

Bitget’s Gracy Chen believed in Ethereum when no one did first appeared on TheStreet on Jun 12, 2025

This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jun 12, 2025, where it first appeared.

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