Ether Follows Bitcoin’s $118K ATH By Rallying To $3,000 Amid Corporate Treasury Announcements

Ether (ETH), the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has seen its price rally 13.5% over the past two days to hit the coveted $3,000 mark. While the market tends to link this bullish uptrend to altcoins following Bitcoin’s (BTC) lead, as the apex crypto recorded an all-time high of $118,000 on Friday, reality suggests otherwise.

In recent weeks, there has been an uptick in inflows to the US spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs), as well as multiple corporate entities announcing that they will be adopting Ether as a treasury asset.

While many public companies have been stocking up Bitcoin for their corporate treasuries, a few have jumped on the altcoin train. Over the past 30 days, BlackRock, SharpLink Gaming, and Bit Digital have managed to add $830 million worth of ETH to their balance sheets.

Nasdaq-Listed Bit Digital Sells Entire Bitcoin Stack for Ether, Closes in on Coinbase in ETH Holdings

On Monday, digital asset firm Bit Digital (Nasdaq: BTBT) announced that it’s shifting its corporate treasury strategy from Bitcoin to Ether, citing that Ethereum will “rewrite the entire financial system”. The company revealed in a press release that it has used $172 million in proceeds from a recent public equity offering, along with funds raised from the sale of its entire Bitcoin stack of 280 BTC ($32 million), to acquire Ether.

As of Q1 2025, which ended on March 31, 2025, Bit Digital held 24,434 ETH. With the latest acquisition, its Ethereum treasury has grown to 100,603 ETH, valued at $302.5 million. The company’s stock, BTBT, surged more than 29% on the news, taking its market capitalization back above $1 billion.

While the digital asset manager only announced its treasury pivot plan last month, it has been actively accumulating and staking ETH since 2022. Bit Digital is now right behind crypto giant Coinbase Global, the second-largest corporate holder with 115,700 ETH, worth $347.4 million at current rates.

US Sports Betting Firm SharpLink Gaming Becomes Largest Corporate ETH Holder, Names Ethereum Co-Founder Board Chair

On Tuesday, publicly-listed US online performance marketing company SharpLink Gaming (Nasdaq: SBET) announced the purchase of 7,689 ETH between June 28 and July 4, for $19 million at an average price of $2,501 per coin. This brought the sports betting firm’s total holdings to 205,634 ETH, worth over $615 million at current prices.

SBET gained nearly 28.6% on the back of the announcement to trade on July 8th at $16.29 and continued to rise over 4.3% during after-hours trading, touching $17 per share.

In the meantime, Sharplink raised $64 million in net proceeds by selling over 5.4 million SBET shares through an at-the-market facility, which will be used to buy more Ether. The sports betting brand has committed all of its Ether holdings to staking and re-staking, earning 100 ETH (approx. $300,000) last week and 322 ETH (apporx. $961,800) in rewards since June 2.

The latest ETH purchase comes little over a month after Sharplink officially announced plans to shift toward an Ethereum-focused treasury strategy. On May 30, the company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to sell up to $1 billion in shares of common stock to increase its ETH holdings. SharpLink also nominated Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin as chairman of its board of directors.

BlackRock Buys More Ethereum Than Bitcoin for ETFs, Controls 1.5% of Total ETH Supply

Meanwhile, blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence reported that investment behemoth BlackRock has been buying more Ether than Bitcoin for its iShares ETFs. According to the report, over the last 30 days, the asset manager acquired $158 million worth of ETH, compared to approximately $128 million in BTC. The move brings its total Ethereum holdings to an estimated $4.45 billion, equivalent to 1.5% of all 120.71 million ETH currently in circulation.

While the company’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) has seen more than $1 billion in inflow over the past week, and continues to attract substantial institutional and retail capital toward Bitcoin, this move signals a growing investor appetite for altcoins, especially Ethereum.

The news follows inflows into US spot Ethereum ETFs on Wednesday, where BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) continues to dominate, accounting for 158.6 million of the $211.3 million inflows. The products providing investors with exposure to the second-largest crypto have now recorded eight consecutive weeks of positive inflows, totalling over 61,000 ETH. The Fidelity Ethereum Fund (FETH) came in a distant second at $29.5 million, followed by Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE) at $18 million.

On-chain analysts have confirmed strong Ethereum whale wallet activity and coordinated buys across large wallets. Popular crypto analyst, ‘Merlijn The Trader’, highlighted that ETH is showcasing the “accumulation > fakeout > launch” pattern from the 2016-17 bull cycle, noting that, unlike then, this time there is BlackRock and billions of dollars lined up.

Traders are Doubtful of Ethereum’s Move Above $3,000

Despite the recent bullish momentum, traders are not convinced whether ETH will maintain its uptrend. Ethereum’s price has struggled to reclaim the $3,000 mark, with some analysts pointing fingers at the broader Bitcoin profit-taking trend for stalling its upside.

The derivatives market hasn’t fared better either, with Ether’s monthly futures premium currently at 5%, sitting between neutral and bearish territory, signalling a lack of confidence among traders about potential future gains. Although this is a considerable improvement from the previous week’s 3.5%, the last notable bullish signal for ETH came on January 23, when it was trading above $3,300.

Ether is still down 41% from its all-time high of $4,891 from November 2021, which explains the less pessimistic but cautious outlook. Another major catalyst is that network fees on the blockchain have declined, reducing the burn rate of ETH. Since Ethereum’s built-in burn mechanism depends on network activity, lower usage means more ETH is in circulation, piling downward pressure on its price.

According to data from Nansen, Ethereum’s network fees for the last 30 days stand at $34.8 million, representing a 22% drop. Although this trend has affected the majority of blockchains, ETH investors are particularly disappointed because the increase in total value locked (TVL) has failed to translate into higher demand for ETH itself. Ethereum’s TVL is at $73 billion as of July 10, up from $50 billion just three months ago.

Yet, trading volumes on Ethereum-based decentralized exchanges (DEXs) have dropped to nine-month lows. While layer-2 ecosystems on Ethereum have performed better than expected, generating $58.6 billion in DEX volumes over the past month, the move to lower rollup fees hasn’t boosted demand for ETH.

For comparison, Solana (SOL), which has 86% less TVL than Ethereum at $17.5 billion, generated $25.3 million in network fees during the same period. Tron (TRX) also managed to accumulate 60% more fees than Ethereum in 30 days.

ETH’s recent price surge appears to be largely driven by a four-day net inflow of $468 million into the US spot Ether ETFs and a corporate treasury buying spree from companies like SharpLink Gaming and Bit Digital. Still, it remains unclear whether institutional demand for Ethereum will persist and continue to grow, unlike Bitcoin, which continues to break new peaks.

At the time of writing, Ether (ETH) is trading at $3,011, up 7.72% in the last 24 hours, while Bitcoin (BTC) is changing hands at $118,078, rising 6.11% in the same period. BTC’s current price is the highest it has ever reached.