Juan Leon, an analyst at cryptocurrency index fund management company Bitwise, believes that while many institutional investors have increased their understanding and acceptance of BTC as an investment asset, most still do not understand what makes Ethereum different. Leon says that even investors who can differentiate between the two currencies find it difficult to consider their position in an investment portfolio. Advisors find it helpful when we explain that BTC can be seen as a similar investment to gold, while ETH can be seen as a similar investment to high-growth tech stocks. As long as financial advisors understand Ethereum, they will see its advantages, and they will also begin to understand that BTC's main role is as a store of value, while ETH's role is as a smart contract platform, powering the most powerful "decentralized app store".

Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer of Bitwise, says that Bitcoin's killer application today is a way to store wealth outside the fiat system. Ethereum's killer application is its functionality, and ETFs do not affect this. Ethereum is widely considered to be more programmable than Bitcoin, allowing the network to support more complex applications such as decentralized exchanges and lending services. Ethereum is often referred to as the "digital oil" that powers the network because this asset is required to execute transactions.