10% ETH is locked in ETFs and treasury, has the Ethereum price explosion point arrived?

In this market cycle, institutional demand for Ethereum (ETH) has risen to unprecedented new heights. The latest data shows that Spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and digital asset financial companies (DATCO) currently control over 12.5 million ETH, accounting for about 10% of the circulating supply of the token, a figure that has experienced an astonishing 212% rise since April.

Institutional funds are flooding into the Ethereum ecosystem

(Source: StrategicETHReserve)

According to the latest data analysis of strategic ETH reserves, the amount of Ethereum held by institutions has surged from around 4 million coins in April this year (accounting for less than 3% of the total supply) to over 12.5 million coins now. This significant rise reflects the increasing shift of institutional capital towards Ethereum investment through regulated ETFs and on-chain fund allocations amid the ongoing growth of tokenized assets and stablecoin networks.

Token Terminal's data further supports the fundamental strength of Ethereum: Currently, decentralized applications on Ethereum hold over $365 billion in user assets, and the trading price of its native token is 1.45 times its total locked value (TVL), indicating market confidence in Ethereum's future development.

Ethereum ETF holdings exceed 6.9 million coins

(Source: StrategicETHReserve)

The data on the strategic ETH reserves shows that the Spot Ethereum ETF currently holds 6.92 million ETH, worth approximately 3.076 billion USD based on the current ETH price of 4,448 USD as of the time of writing. These assets are distributed across 9 products from 8 issuing institutions.

BlackRock is far ahead in this field, managing over 4 million ETH, worth $17.6 billion, accounting for more than half of all ETH held by ETFs. Grayscale follows closely behind, managing approximately 1.8 million ETH in its ETHE and ETH trusts.

Fidelity holds approximately 778,200 ETH, ranking third; Bitwise holds about 151,600 ETH. Other issuers, including VanEck, Franklin Templeton, Invesco Galaxy, and 21Shares, all hold less than 100,000 ETH.

Ethereum ETF demand remains strong

(Source: StrategicETHReserve)

This strong accumulation trend aligns with the surge in investor interest in regulated Ethereum investments. Data from SosoValue shows that since its launch, the cumulative net inflow of the Ethereum ETF has exceeded $15 billion, indicating that despite market volatility, institutional demand remains robust.

In addition to ETF, the digital asset financial company focusing on Ethereum (DATCO) holds a total of 5.66 million ETH, accounting for 4.68% of the circulating supply, worth 25.19 billion USD. This figure highlights the increasingly prominent position of Ethereum as a corporate financial asset, second only to Bitcoin in institutional accumulation.

July and August are the peak periods for these funding expansion initiatives, with many companies joining the wave of large-scale acquisitions. Although the momentum has weakened since then, major shareholders are still continuing to increase their holdings.

BitMine Immersion Tech ranks first with a holding of 2.83 million ETH, valued at approximately $1.259 billion, accounting for 2.34% of the digital asset supply. The company's strategic goal is to ultimately control 5% of the total ETH supply, viewing it as a strategic reserve for broader network applications.

Market Controversies and Future Outlook

However, the funding operations of ETH have also attracted criticism from industry experts, with some believing that retail funds from South Korea are supporting some of these companies. Bitcoin advocate Samson Mow claims that these retail traders have invested around $6 billion in pursuit of the next "strategic game."

Despite the controversy, asset management firm VanEck believes that the strong wave of institutional adoption indicates that ETH has become a strong competitor to Bitcoin in the competition for dominance as a store of value.

As more and more Ethereum is locked in long-term institutional holdings, the reduction in market liquidity could have a significant impact on ETH prices. Analysts point out that when supply is limited and demand continues to grow, this situation typically leads to upward price pressure.