Ethereum News Today: SharpLink Gaming and Bitmine Immersion Technologies Surpass Ethereum Foundation in ETH Holdings

Two relatively unknown companies, SharpLink Gaming and Bitmine Immersion Technologies, have surpassed the Ethereum Foundation in terms of ETH holdings. This development comes as Ethereum experiences record inflows across various financial instruments, including ETFs and corporate treasuries.

SharpLink Gaming, based in Minneapolis, has become one of the largest corporate holders of ETH. The company's holdings amount to 280,706 ETH, valued at just over $1 billion. This significant stash was acquired through a $400 million capital-raising initiative via at-the-market equity offerings. SharpLink not only holds ETH but also stakes it for yield, providing transparency to traditional equity markets by publishing an "ETH-per-share" metric. This strategy positions SharpLink as a public market proxy for Ethereum's long-term growth and DeFi yield dynamics.

Bitmine Immersion Technologies, led by Tom Lee of Fundstrat, has also made substantial strides in ETH holdings, with 300,657 ETH valued at around $1.13 billion. Bitmine aims to become an ETH-native reserve institution, leveraging cash flows from crypto mining and financial tools like ETH Options to control up to 5% of the circulating supply. Backed by former PayPal CEO Peter Thiel and modeled after MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin approach, Bitmine’s ETH-first strategy integrates Wall Street into Ethereum’s decentralized ecosystem.

The rivalry between SharpLink and Bitmine was publicly acknowledged by Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin, who described the competition as a "cut-throat one-upmanship." This dynamic highlights the growing institutional interest in Ethereum, with both companies aggressively acquiring and staking ETH to maximize their positions in the decentralized finance landscape.

Ethereum’s recent rally is more about institutional positioning than its price movements. The Open Interest in ETH Futures surged to $50 billion, coinciding with the token’s price climbing above $3,500. Additionally, spot market dynamics and net inflows into ETFs hitting a weekly high of $2.18 billion, with total net assets surpassing $18 billion, indicate strong institutional conviction. This dual surge in derivatives and spot inflows signals that significant capital is being deployed into Ethereum, reflecting confidence in its structural upside.