Ethereum Treasuries Boom as Companies Look Beyond Bitcoin

In crypto, coming in second can pay even better than winning, as long as Peter Thiel is writing the checks.

The tech billionaire’s venture capital firm Founder’s Fund has snatched up a 9% stake in BitMine Immersion Technologies. BitMine recently pivoted its focus from Bitcoin mining to building up its treasury stash of ether, disclosing this week that it now holds more than $500 million worth of the second-biggest crypto by market cap.  

Companies have been racing to bulk up their Ethereum treasuries as they look to copy-and-paste strategies that worked for Bitcoin, the No. 1 crypto. 

Mimicking Michael Saylor

Michael Saylor pioneered crypto treasuries in 2020 while leading Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin by far, with more than 600,000 Bitcoin in its stash. For investors, buying Strategy shares is a way to get indirect exposure to Bitcoin without directly investing in the digital asset. Dozens of companies have copied Strategy’s model in recent months — even GameStop bought more than $500 million worth of Bitcoin. 

Now, companies are jockeying to become the Strategy of Ethereum:

• In the past 30 days, Ethereum treasury companies scooped up more than 545,000 ether worth at least $1.6 billion, CoinTelegraph reported. As companies piled into ethereum, the asset rallied to a five-month high yesterday, breaking the $3,200 mark for the first time since February. 
• SharpLink now controls the largest corporate treasury of ether, even though the gaming and crypto company only started buying the asset last month. The firm has quickly accumulated 280,000 ether worth $846 million. 

But ether and Bitcoin are fundamentally different, and so are their treasuries. While Bitcoin acts as a digital store of value that sits in a vault, ether has myriad uses on the blockchain. For instance, SharpLink revealed that nearly 100% of its ether stash is staked, meaning it’s being actively used to generate more ether. 

Shifting Spotlight: Bitcoin miners like BitMine could be looking for new sources of revenue after the crypto last year underwent its latest “halving,” an event that cuts mining rewards in half. At the same time, Bitcoin has become crowded with investors piling into its ongoing rally (it broke past $120,000 for the first time Monday). Meanwhile, Ethereum, which many stablecoins are built on, could soon see an influx of traditional finance investors once the stablecoin regulatory framework that has been moving through the House gets President Trump’s official green light. Treasury firms are ready and waiting … with giant piles of ether.