When ETH broke through 3200 and the ETH/BTC exchange rate surpassed 0.026, no one expected that ETH would stage a comeback.

At the beginning of the year, ETH was like a derailed high-speed train, soaring and then plummeting off a cliff. From the end of 2024 to April 2025, the price of ETH dropped from $4000 to $1500, halving and halving again, underperforming BTC, SOL, and even lagging behind a bunch of meme coins.

Just when retail investors were wailing and KOLs were shorting, and institutions were silent, a quieter, more concealed plot was unfolding behind the scenes: a classic shakeout.

The crash was not just a "price adjustment" for ETH; it was more like a designed, purposeful offloading.

The price drop from 4000 to 1500 was not to prove that ETH was worthless but to orderly shake off those retail holders who had heavily accumulated at the peak of the bull market in the past two years.

As those who had once proudly waved the ETH banner began to stop-loss and exit, the new buyers were no longer another group of retail investors but rather more silent, disciplined funds: as if a group of Wall Street suits had entered.

They did not loudly proclaim their long positions on ETH on social media, nor did they aggressively build positions. Instead, they quietly bought in through fundraising for U.S. small-cap companies, market-making accounts, and structured arbitrage funds.

By the time everyone was asking whether the bottom had been reached, the real accumulation had already been completed.

In retrospect, the crash from 4000 to 1500 was not a signal of decline but more like a handover of narrative power. Ethereum no longer belonged to the KOLs or the speculators.

But this time, were the new buyers truly Wall Street?

Stage Set for a Comeback: How Institutions Quietly Boosted ETH

The story of the comeback had been circulating widely since the first half of the year. After the Hong Kong conference, rumors of the "Ethereum underground parking lot comeback" even surfaced.

At that time, most people's assessment of this was: retail investors indulging in fantasies.

However, on-chain data had early signs—December 2024 to April 2025 was a period of free fall for Ethereum's price but also a moment when the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) quietly turned upwards.

Image Source: Glassnode

HHI is an indicator of asset concentration, and on the Ethereum chain, it represents the trend of chip ownership. While the price experienced a sharp decline, the HHI was rapidly increasing, indicating that ETH was not being widely sold off by the market. Instead, it was moving from dispersed retail hands to a few large holders or even institutional addresses.

From December 2024 to the present, ETH's Herfindahl-Hirschman Index has rapidly increased, returning to its 2018 highs within 5 months, completing the chip concentration path that took the past 5 years to traverse. During the same period, ETH's price dropped from $4000 to $1500, indicating that during the downturn, large holders continued to accumulate chips, and the chips were not widely distributed.

This concentration favors control over the market and has amplified ETH's recent volatility. Although the current concentration is still far below historical highs, once the main players start accumulating, they usually do not easily retreat. However, they are more likely to quietly accumulate chips rather than rush to drive up the price.

This is a typical turnover of chips, or more bluntly put, a structural shakeout.

From a sentiment perspective, it resembles a late-stage collapse; but from a structural perspective, it looks more like the main players are repositioning themselves: quietly accumulating chips when there seems to be no hope, and remaining silent during the most tumultuous times.

This operating style is something we have often seen in A-shares, Hong Kong stocks, or small-cap stocks in the U.S. stock market in the past, and now it has appeared in ETH.

In retrospect, the process of dropping to $1500 seems like retail panic selling on the surface, but it was actually a precisely controlled "pullback space." Changing hands of ownership does not necessarily always occur before the start of a bull market; sometimes it hides in the deep waters of a bear market. Now we realize that the selling pressure based on reasons such as "ETF not approved," "narrative collapse," or "ecosystem weakness" is actually part of a more profound script—driving weak hands out, and consolidating the chips.

By the time we truly realize the change in market makers, ETH has already returned to above $3000. When looking back at this point, you will understand that this position is not the end but potentially a new beginning—the turning point of ETH's shakeout has quietly completed at $1500.

So, how did this group of seemingly Wall Street-like institutions quietly support ETH's rise?

Image Source: cryptotimes

In May 2025, SharpLink Gaming ($SBET) announced a $425 million PIPE financing to purchase 176,271 ETH, valued at over $460 million at the time.

The day the news was released, the stock price skyrocketed by 400%, with the dual narrative of financing + crypto assets igniting the US stock market. This was seen as the first tuning fork for an "ETH version of MSTR" and officially ignited Wall Street's stock market speculation on ETH assets.

Initially, SBET's surge was seen by the market as a game of hot potato with a small-cap stock. But just one month later, the followers started to emerge.

In June, BitMine Immersion Technologies ($BMNR) announced a $250 million PIPE financing to purchase ETH, explicitly stating a shift to being an "ETH infrastructure asset manager." Following the announcement, BMNR saw consecutive days of surges, becoming another "ETH concept stock" after SBET.

Unlike SBET, BMNR was no longer just "buying and holding," but instead aimed at ETH staking rewards, on-chain cash flow, and DeFi ecosystem participation. This was the first time a traditional mining company transformed into a "ETF-like logic" to bullish on ETH, indicating a shift in institutional thinking from directional bets to structural capture.

Almost simultaneously, BTCS ($BTCS) took a different approach. It didn't publicly announce how much ETH it bought in one go but emphasized the innovation in financing structure: a mixed financing model of "DeFi + TradFi." It didn't just buy ETH; it invested in an asset anchored in stablecoin liquidity.

Bit Digital ($BTBT) also quietly disclosed its purchase of 20,000 ETH, planning to transition from its original BTC mining company status to an ETH staking node operator. In this regime change, some players in the BTC camp have already started to cross over.

From SBET's initial move to BMNR, BTCS, BTBT, and other US stocks and mining companies taking turns, the entire process took less than a month, with a rapid, clear, and orderly pace.

Who is the mastermind behind this long-planned "regime change"? Did Wall Street truly pick up the blood-stained chips?

The Mastermind Behind the "Regime Change"

Setting aside the fantasy of Wall Street discovering the value of ETH, carefully reading the fundraising statements of these Ethereum strategic reserve companies, former ETH believers might let out a long sigh:

Because above there appeared one familiar name after another: Pantera Capital, Galaxy Digital, Joseph Lubin, Peter Thiel...

It is precisely these well-known institutions and figures in the crypto circle that, through investment, technical support, and public relations, have packaged Ethereum into a new "Wall Street-ized" height.

Pantera Capital

Pantera Capital is a pioneer in the cryptocurrency investment field. In 2013, Pantera launched the first U.S. institutionally focused on Bitcoin, and later expanded to Ethereum and other blockchain projects.

As an early angel investor in Ethereum's initial coin offering (ICO), Pantera bet on its potential as early as the Ethereum crowdfunding in 2014, establishing a strong connection with Ethereum.

Pantera's portfolio also covers various projects in the DeFi space within the Ethereum ecosystem, including Uniswap, Aave, Arbitrum, and other foundational applications on Ethereum.

In May 2025, Pantera once again emphasized Ethereum's core position in stablecoins and DeFi applications in its Blockchain Letter, labeling it as the "backbone of the blockchain economy."

Simultaneously, the DAT Fund was launched, specifically investing in companies that hold digital assets as strategic reserves (Digital Asset Treasury Companies, DATs), referring to this model as the new narrative of exposure to cryptocurrency through the public markets.

"Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) companies, emulating MSTR, provide exposure to cryptocurrency investment through a public market-traded perpetual capital vehicle. Having researched the strategy, we have confidence in this investment thesis and are focusing our bets in this area."

DAT Companies invested in by Pantera

Currently, behind the top two strategic reserve companies holding ETH, SharpLink and Bitmine, lies the influence of Pantera.

In May 2025, Pantera participated in SharpLink's $425 million private equity financing round, along with crypto VCs such as ConsenSys, ParaFi Capital, and Galaxy Digital.

On June 30, 2025, Pantera again participated in BitMine's $250 million private equity financing round, with Galaxy Digital and ParaFi Capital remaining as co-investors alongside Pantera.

Galaxy Digital manages an ETH ETF, while ParaFi Capital, like Pantera, has invested in numerous Ethereum DeFi applications including Uniswap and Aave.

Furthermore, ParaFi has also invested in ConsenSys, the key driver behind SharpLink and a longstanding partner of Pantera for over a decade.

Consensys

Consensys has developed essential infrastructure applications for Ethereum such as Metamask, Infura, and Linea. Its founder, Joseph Lubin, is a co-founder of Ethereum whose influence rivals that of Vitalik.

Joseph Lubin not only holds a significant amount of Ethereum but also, after investing in SharpLink, became its chairman of the board, holding a 9.9% stake in SBET, making him its largest individual public shareholder.

Prior to joining Ethereum, Joseph Lubin also worked at Goldman Sachs, embodying a bridge between the traditional financial and crypto worlds.

In addition to ConsenSys and Pantera, key figures from the ICO era of Ethereum, another crypto giant, Founders Fund, have set their sights on the Ethereum strategic reserve race.

Founders Fund

Founded by Silicon Valley and crypto legend Peter Thiel, Founders Fund invested $200 million in cryptocurrency in 2023, with $100 million allocated to purchasing ETH. They acquired 58,824 ETH at an average price of $1,700 per ETH.

Founders Fund is also an investor in star projects based on Ethereum such as Polymarket and Ondo Finance.

Furthermore, Founders Fund participated in a $250 million private equity financing of BitMine Immersion Technologies, holding a 9.1% stake (5,094,000 shares) in the company.

BitMine currently holds over 163,000 ETH, worth approximately $500 million, and Founders Fund's investment is equivalent to indirectly holding about 14,853 ETH through BitMine.

While completing the strategic Ethereum reserve private placement financing, BitMine also announced the appointment of Tom Lee as the new Chairman of the Board.

Tom Lee

Tom Lee was a well-known Wall Street market strategist. From 1999 to 2014, he served as the Chief Equity Strategist at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., being named a top analyst by institutional investors every year since 1998.

In 2014, Lee left J.P. Morgan and co-founded Fundstrat, providing stock research and advisory services to institutional investors, pension funds, family offices, and high net worth individuals.

At the same time, Lee is a frequent guest in financial media, often appearing on programs such as CNBC, Fox Business, and Bloomberg, primarily discussing cryptocurrency and stock market-related topics.

Since 2017, Lee has been publicly bullish on Bitcoin and has forecasted that the price of Ethereum will reach $5,000-6,000 by 2024.

Today, this crypto-friendly Wall Street figure seems to have become the "Ethereum strategic reserve narrative" advocate, openly promoting ETH on mainstream financial media outlets, claiming that Ethereum is the underlying infrastructure for stablecoins and boldly predicting:

"When banks like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan issue stablecoins on Ethereum, they would want to pledge more Ethereum to secure it and achieve this by establishing an Ethereum strategic reserve."

Tom Lee's background in traditional finance, stock analysis, and his good relationship with mainstream financial media indeed make him a perfect fit for the role of promoting the Ethereum strategic reserve narrative.

The Chair of Primitive Ventures, Dovey Wan, also expressed a positive view on Ethereum's strategic reserve model on Twitter:

「Ethereum strategic reserve is not just corporates buying ETH, it's an experiment of trust and financial architecture. SharpLink's model (stock premium → more ETH → larger flywheel effect) showcases how Ethereum is becoming a bridge for institutional investment through public companies listing.」

It is worth noting that Primitive Ventures previously announced their backing of SharpLink.

Dovey Wan herself also serves as a member of the CoinDesk Advisory Board, with CoinDesk being acquired by Bullish on November 20, 2023, one of the investors in Bullish being the Founders Fund.

These highly intertwined names differentiate the Ethereum strategic reserve narrative from Microstrategy's initial act of buying Bitcoin as a non-crypto native company.

The Ethereum Core Circle Conspiracy

The rise of Ethereum strategic reserve companies, from organization, initiation, to dissemination, every step behind the scenes has been meticulously planned by Ethereum OGs and whales.

These crypto institutions and key figures not only hold a significant amount of Ethereum, but their relationships are deeply intertwined, and they are heavily involved in investing in Ethereum infrastructure and DeFi-related projects.

It can be said that it is the core capital behind ETH that has driven this narrative of "changing the house" with the ETH strategic reserve.

Whether these OG players were once part of Ethereum's "old guard" is unknown, but these strategic reserve companies have indeed quickly become the "new guard" buying into ETH.

Ethereum Strategic Reserve Companies: The "New Guard" of ETH

As of data up to July 14th, there are now over 50 Ethereum strategic reserve companies in the market, holding ETH worth over $4 billion, accounting for over 1% of the total circulating ETH supply.

According to Strategic ETH Reserve data, out of the top 11 institutional holdings of Ethereum, 4 are Ethereum strategic reserve companies.

These companies hold an Ethereum amount that accounts for over 40% of the top 10 institutional holdings, which is more than twice the amount held by the Ethereum Foundation and over nine times that of the U.S. government.

Moreover, the 30-day price increase of these strategic reserve companies has also far exceeded that of longstanding crypto projects like Lido and giants like Coinbase.

BTCS has also announced its inclusion in the Russell Microcap Index last night.

Has the "Changing of the Guard" Altered ETH's Fundamentals?

Possibly influenced by the Ethereum strategic reserve narrative, ETH has shown exceptionally strong performance in recent days.

But has Ethereum's fundamentals really changed?

This is the most controversial question in this round of changing of the guard. Supporters believe that ETH was merely wrongfully persecuted by emotions, with a clear technical roadmap and a stable economic model, heading towards becoming the world's settlement layer. On the other hand, skeptics mock that it has lost its vitality, users, and imagination, from DeFi to NFTs to L2, all extinguished.

However, if you detach from the emotional side, you will find that Ethereum's on-chain structure and economic foundation have not collapsed. What has truly changed is the way ETH is portrayed—it is no longer an asset driven by narrative hype but a financial instrument that Wall Street can use for structured products.

On-chain, Ethereum's supply-demand structure remains robust. EIP-1559 continues to be in effect, leading to a mild deflation of ETH supply. The staking rate is steadily increasing, with over a quarter of the circulating supply locked in the mainnet or LRT structures, providing a base for network security and endowing ETH with properties akin to "on-chain sovereign debt."

The scalability roadmap is clear, with EIP-4844 already deployed, Rollup costs decreasing, and although the L2 developer ecosystem isn't very lively, the infrastructure continues to progress.

Image Source: the block

However, off-chain, the narrators of ETH are changing. Over the past few years, Ethereum's narrative was led by KOLs, VCs, and DeFi protocols, those who built growth curves based on imagination and market liquidity. But since the decline of the LSD narrative in 2024, the silence of the NFT sector, and the sluggishness of L2 scaling, the market has grown weary of ETH's "future story."

The VC can't present a new PPT, retail investors are being lured away by memes, and Ethereum has suddenly lost its "price surge" reason.

But just as retail investors were getting tired of the meme Ponzi scheme and their confidence was being extinguished by the onslaught of knockoffs, Ethereum OG stepped up to the plate for ETH with a microphone that aligns with traditional financial logic.

The rationale behind ETH's price surge has been transformed into: Can it be packaged as structured notes? Can it generate a 6% annualized on-chain stable yield? Can it become part of a "TradFi Investment Portfolio" as a layer of quasi-sovereign assets?

Among them, BTC's strategy is particularly typical: This veteran Web3 company listed on the US stock market announced in June 2025 that it would issue up to $1 billion through an S-3 registration statement, with the funds being used to increase ETH holdings, expand node operations, and manage on-chain yields.

BTC has proposed a "DeFi + TradFi Hybrid Structure" flywheel model:

With a certain leverage ratio, use a publicly traded company for ATM and convertible bond financing, purchase ETH, then use ETH as collateral, combining on-chain lending, node staking rewards, MEV extraction, and even future interactions with the Builder ecosystem to create a stable cash flow model.

In their hands, ETH is not a speculative asset but a financial instrument that can be repeatedly discounted, part of an institutional financial model.

This narrative shift fundamentally aligns with the logic of traditional financial institutions buying in.

In this sense, ETH has not changed, but its audience and storytelling have. The old consensus is withering, but a new financial pricing narrative is slowly taking root.

From Consensus to Collusion, ETH's Script Feels Familiar

In the past, when we talked about ETH, we looked at technical iterations, narrative changes, and the strength of consensus.

But today, what truly determines the next chapter of ETH is no longer the "storytellers" but the "structural designers."

SBET, BMNR, BTCS, BTBT... Behind these quietly entering US stock market companies are Ethereum's most OG investors and whales, as well as players most familiar with the "traditional financial game."

They know that once a digital asset can be standardized, structured, and included in traditional portfolios, its price will be redefined.

When Joseph Lubin, Tom Lee start appearing on mainstream financial media like CNBC, linking Ethereum's potential with the stablecoin narrative; when Pantera and Peter Thiel start publicly disclosing their Ethereum strategic reserve holdings:

The crypto giants and Ethereum whales are now marketing Ethereum's "new story" to Wall Street and more traditional financial institutions.

Looking back, Ethereum's "pump" process is actually very typical: emotional panic, retail exodus, followed by institutions using PIPE financing, the "on-chain staking yield model," and "US stock secondary market hype" to take over positions.

This is not a Web3 native story, but rather a full set of familiar TradFi script replays: channelizing assets, structuring narratives, commodifying volatility.

And ETH is also transitioning from a consensus asset to a conspiracy asset. Consensus is retail's self-identification in the community; while conspiracy is the silent handover of institutions behind structured trades.

All of this is a sign of institutions starting to "control the board" after completing the mainstage "rebalancing."

Ultimately, we will find that the fundamentals of ETH have not changed, the chain is still running, the code is still being updated, and the largest holders are still the same group of people. But who is talking about it, who is backing it, the narrative driving ETH's rise, and the audience it is targeting have all changed.

Behind the mask is the face of Wall Street, but the ones pulling the strings are still those familiar old sickles.

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