Ethereum also faced renewed pressure as the token trades around $1,950 as of March 8, 2026. The weakness came with a growing debate over the network’s economics after the , which went live on December 3, 2025. Ethereum’s own roadmap says Fusaka increased scaling capacity and introduced features tied to blob throughput and user experience. The Ethereum Foundation has described the upgrade as stable and live on the mainnet.
Even so, Culper Research, a short-selling firm, says Ethereum may be entering a “death spiral” after the Fusaka upgrade. The firm argues that block capacity grows faster than real demand, which it says leads to more low-value activity and spam on the network. It also criticizes Vitalik Buterin’s ETH sales and rejects bullish views from Fundstrat’s Tom Lee.
The firm says Fusaka weakens by reducing transaction fees, validator income, and staking yields. Culper also points to a rise in address-poisoning attacks, where scammers send small transactions to mislead wallet users into copying fraudulent addresses. It estimates that these attacks cause at least $87 million in losses within three months of the upgrade.
Based on that view, Culper says it is short Ether. The firm also describes ETH as a broken token and argues that holders may face weaker long-term economic value.