Ethereum Sparks Investment Frenzy on Wall Street, Multiple Listed Companies Accelerate Their Layouts

A strong wave of capital is surging from Wall Street towards Ethereum. Following Bitcoin being hailed as "digital gold" and becoming a regular feature on the balance sheets of some publicly traded companies, Ethereum, with its unique profitability and ecosystem value, is rapidly rising as "digital oil" in the eyes of institutional investors, opening a new chapter in corporate strategic reserves.

As traditional mining companies transition into emerging tech firms, a "arms race" surrounding Ethereum has already begun.

"Ethereum Machine" Emerges

Recently, a new company called "Ether Machine", created by several early Ethereum builders and seasoned financial professionals, announced that it will go public on NASDAQ through a merger with the blank check company Dynamix, with the stock code "ETHM".

According to the announcement, Ether Machine plans to hold over 400,000 Ethereum at the time of listing, with a total value exceeding $1.5 billion. This massive amount of funds comes mainly from two parts:

• First, the company's co-founder and chairman Andrew Keys invested approximately $645 million as cornerstone investment;

• Secondly, it has secured over $800 million in common stock financing from multiple top-tier crypto native and institutional investors.

Unlike companies that simply mimic others by hoarding Bitcoin, Ether Machine's positioning goes far beyond being a passive asset holder. It defines itself as an "active ETH generation company," aiming to provide investors with secure, compliant, and transparent ETH-denominated returns through specialized operations. Its core strategies include:

• Staking and Re-staking: Participate in the security validation of the Ethereum network using its large ETH reserves to earn stable staking rewards.

• DeFi Strategy: Participate in well-established DeFi protocols to obtain additional treasury returns, under the premise of strict risk assessment.

• Ecosystem Catalysis and Infrastructure Construction: The company plans to actively support Ethereum native projects and provide infrastructure solutions such as validator management and block construction for institutions, deeply integrating and promoting the development of the Ethereum ecosystem.

The core team of Ether Machine can be called the "Avengers of Ethereum."

Chairman Andrew Keys is an early core member of a well-known blockchain company and led the creation of the world's largest open-source blockchain alliance, the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA), and helped ETH surpass a trading price of $1 in 2015. CEO David Merin previously handled corporate development at a blockchain company, leading over $700 million in financing and several strategic investments. Chief Technology Officer Tim Lowe has extensive experience in Ethereum staking and blockchain infrastructure, having developed early institutional-grade staking platforms and enterprise blockchain projects. DeFi lead Darius Przydzial is an expert in DeFi and Ethereum infrastructure, having advised several top DeFi protocols and accumulated over a decade of quantitative research experience at traditional financial institutions such as JPMorgan. Additionally, Vice Chairman Jonathan Christodoro has over 20 years of investment management experience, having worked at multiple investment firms and currently serving as a director at PayPal.

Andrew Keys stated in an interview: "The biggest beneficiary of the GENIUS Act (the U.S. stablecoin regulatory bill) is Ethereum, as 90% of RWA and stablecoins are deployed on Ethereum, just like 90% of searches in the market happen on a certain mainstream search engine, while other search engines only account for a small share. Ethereum is a productive asset, unlike Bitcoin, as it can generate intrinsic returns through staking."

The Rise of Competitors: Major Listed Companies Compete to Increase Their Holdings in Ethereum

In fact, the emergence of Ether Machine is not an isolated case; it is precisely a reflection of a surging wave on Wall Street. Several publicly listed companies in the U.S. have already taken action, incorporating Ethereum into their core balance sheets, and their stock prices have experienced significant fluctuations as a result. Companies are competing to buy ETH, wanting to outperform each other in terms of reserves, and the winner can claim the title of "the Ethereum version of a well-known cryptocurrency reserve company."

• SharpLink Gaming: As a NASDAQ-listed iGaming company, SharpLink has launched an Ethereum reserve strategy through a private placement of $425 million, holding approximately 358,000 ETH, with a market value exceeding $1.2 billion, accounting for 44% of its total market value. Driven by the co-founder of Ethereum, the company has staked nearly all of its ETH to generate returns.

• BitMine Immersion Technologies: As a Bitcoin mining infrastructure company, BitMine recently announced the launch of a "light asset" Ethereum reserve strategy. On July 8, the company raised $250 million through a private placement and currently holds Ethereum and Ethereum equivalents valued at over $1.12 billion. In addition, Wall Street renowned strategist and co-founder of an investment research firm, Tom Lee, has been appointed as the chairman of its board. He publicly stated that BitMine will become the "Ethereum version of a well-known cryptocurrency reserve company" and predicted that ETH will break through $4000 in the short term, with a potential to reach $10,000 to $15,000 by the end of the year.

• Bit Digital: The company, which previously focused on Bitcoin mining, has recently completed an aggressive strategic transformation. The company announced that it has fully shifted to Ethereum, raising approximately $172 million through an initial public offering and liquidating its Bitcoin holdings, using all proceeds to increase its Ethereum position. This move has caused its total ETH holdings to soar to over 120,000. The company's CEO, Samir Tabar, referred to Ethereum as "a blue-chip asset that is reshaping the financial system."

• GameSquare Holdings: This digital media and gaming company has also entered the fray, announcing a plan to launch an Ethereum reserve program of up to $250 million, and has completed its first round of purchases. To further increase its stake, the company also plans to raise $70 million through a share placement specifically for purchasing ETH.

• BTCS Inc.: As one of the earliest blockchain concept stocks on NASDAQ, BTCS has been deeply engaged in the Ethereum ecosystem since 2021. Recently, the company disclosed that its ETH and cash market value has reached $242 million and announced plans to raise another $100 million for continued purchases of ETH. What sets it apart is that BTCS has adopted a hybrid financing model, utilizing not only traditional equity financing but also innovatively leveraging a certain well-known DeFi protocol for on-chain lending to accelerate the accumulation of ETH.

Innovative Financing Paths and Potential Risks

The financing methods adopted by these companies for purchasing Ether also reflect a high degree of financial innovation, but they are accompanied by significant risks.

In addition to traditional private placements (PIPE) and market price issuance (ATM), more aggressive strategies have emerged in the market. For example, Bit Digital directly sells its Bitcoin reserves in exchange for Ether; BTCS has innovatively utilized certain DeFi protocols to borrow stablecoins by collateralizing assets to purchase more Ether, achieving on-chain leverage operations.

The narrative of "the ETH version of a well-known cryptocurrency reserve company" has undoubtedly become a powerful catalyst for stock prices. The stock prices of related companies have experienced several times or even tens of times increases in the short term. However, this surge driven by announcements is extremely fragile. Taking SharpLink and BitMine as examples, both experienced more than 70% severe pullbacks shortly after reaching historic highs. This indicates that market sentiment is highly unstable and speculative in nature. In addition, the reserve of Ether also has the following risk exposures:

• Price risk: The company's balance sheet is highly tied to the price of Ether; once the market enters a bear market, the value of assets will significantly decrease.

• Financing Risk: Highly dependent on continuous equity financing; if the market cools down, financing channels may dry up, continuously diluting the rights of existing shareholders.

• On-chain risks: Participating in staking and DeFi can bring returns, but it also introduces a series of blockchain-native risks such as smart contract vulnerabilities, node penalties, and oracle failures.

• Valuation Bubble: The market capitalization of many companies far exceeds the net asset value of their held Ether, creating a high premium. This premium can be maintained during market euphoria but may be quickly erased during periods of calm or bear markets.

Who will become the "Ethereum version of a certain well-known cryptocurrency reserve company"?

Despite the surge, there has yet to be a company that can become the "Ethereum whale" with absolute leadership and market pricing power in the Bitcoin space, like a well-known cryptocurrency reserve company. The reason is that the strategic threshold for ETH is higher and the narrative is more complex.

Simply "buy and hold" is not enough to summarize its potential; effectively staking, participating in DeFi, and managing on-chain risks require deeper technical and operational capabilities.

Currently, companies represented by Ether Machine, SharpLink, and BitMine have the greatest potential to become leaders in the field, thanks to their strong founding teams and clear strategies. However, they are still in the early stages and need time to prove the sustainability of their strategies and risk management capabilities.

There is no doubt that the "institutional era" of Ethereum has arrived. From "digital oil" to "internet bonds", Wall Street is assigning new value labels to Ethereum. This wave of reserves led by public companies is not only injecting massive funds into the market, but more importantly, it is reshaping the perception and positioning of Ethereum in the global capital markets.

However, investors must remain clear-headed: this is a high-risk, high-reward game. While chasing this feast of cryptocurrency and stock correlation, one must also be wary of the huge volatility and deep risks lurking behind it. Although the path of Ethereum toward a trillion-dollar network has become clearer, it is destined to be a thorny road filled with opportunities and challenges.