Written by: Shen Chao TechFlow
A recently obvious trend is that people are starting to bullishly view Ethereum again.
From proclaiming "Ethereum is the oil of the digital age" to the slogan at EthCC that "ETH should rise to $10,000"... what else can revitalize ETH?
The answer to this question may not be on-chain, but in the US stock market.
As 'Bitcoin reserves' become a new trend for US-listed companies, Ethereum reserves have emerged as a new darling in the US stock market.
For instance, last week, SharpLink announced it purchased another 7,689 ETH, making it the public company with the largest ETH reserves; yesterday its stock price (SBET) also rose nearly 30%;
Meanwhile, the Bitcoin mining company BitMine (BMNR) recently announced the launch of a $250 million ETH asset reserve plan, aiming to emulate MicroStrategy. The company's stock price has already increased 16-fold within a month, and the short-term wealth effect has even surpassed certain meme coins.
In addition, another publicly listed Bitcoin mining company, Blockchain Technology Consensus Solutions (BTCS), has also followed a similar path, announcing plans to raise $100 million on Tuesday to purchase ETH.
As soon as the news broke, the company's stock price skyrocketed by 110%.
There's also the more aggressive Bit Digital, whose main business is Bitcoin mining and Ethereum staking, directly announcing a full pivot to Ethereum and selling Bitcoin. Yesterday, its stock BTBT surged nearly 20% at one point.
These four companies are a microcosm of the recent active embrace of Ethereum narratives in the US stock market and are stars at the forefront of capital market trends.
Speculative funds have limited attention, and the market often forgets more of the later entrants, so you can see them rushing to make official announcements, seeking a clear stance and mental positioning.
We also analyzed the similarities and differences in business and resources among these companies, providing some references for players focusing on the correlation between coins and stocks.
Different businesses, but all seeking to turn losses into profits
SharpLink (SBET), BitMine (BMNR), Blockchain Technology Consensus Solutions (BTCS), and Bit Digital (BTBT) are four companies vying to bet on ETH, each with its own business logic behind the stock price surge.
SharpLink (SBET): From gambling to gambling
SharpLink Gaming (SBET) primarily operates online sports betting. It also collaborates with sports media companies to help them develop strategies, products, and innovative solutions.
However, in 2024, the company's revenue was only $3.66 million, a year-on-year decline of 26%; that year it also achieved profitability by selling part of its business.
Before the transformation, SBET had a market capitalization of about $10 million, with stock prices hovering on the edge of delisting (below $1), equity insufficient at under $2.5 million, facing compliance pressure. Its traditional business growth was limited, making it difficult to break through in the fiercely competitive gambling industry.
In May 2025, SBET raised $425 million through a private placement to aggressively buy ETH, currently holding 205,634 ETH (as of July 9).
The large-scale financing to acquire ETH has also made it one of the largest publicly traded holders of ETH globally, second only to the Ethereum Foundation.
Public data shows that over 95% of SBET's ETH is deployed in liquid staking protocols, having currently received staking rewards of 322 ETH.
The cash flow generated from staking can indeed have a positive impact on optimizing the balance sheet, but more importantly, this strategy not only optimizes the financial structure but also transformed SBET from a struggling company on the verge of delisting into a 'crypto concept stock' favored by the capital markets.
Against the backdrop of bottlenecks in core business and the Ethereum ETF craze, SBET's transformation seems more like a gamble, and its high ETH proportion makes it highly susceptible to price fluctuations, as ETH tends to drop more sharply than BTC.
BitMine (BMNR): From BTC mining to ETH treasury
As the name suggests, BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) is a Bitcoin mining company that relies on immersion cooling technology to mine blockchain in Texas and Trinidad.
BMNR generates Bitcoin revenue through self-mining and custodial third-party devices.
In the first quarter of 2025, the company's revenue was $3.31 million, but high energy consumption and low-profit margins (with a net loss of $3.29 million in 2024) made it difficult to progress. Before the transformation, BMNR's market capitalization was only $26 million, and its mining business faced high costs and fierce competition, with limited growth potential.
On June 30, the company announced a private fundraising plan to purchase approximately 95,000 ETH, but the actual holding amount has not been disclosed. However, after the announcement, BMNR's stock price soared from $4.50 to $111.50, soaring 3000% since June.
At the same time, the rise in stock prices has also boosted BitMine's market capitalization, which is currently around $5.7 billion. Unlike SBET, BitMine still retains its original BTC mining business, making its ETH reserve seem more like a short-term narrative.
Blockchain Technology Consensus Solutions (BTCS): Old but new, the narrative aligns with business
BTCS differs from the two companies above, as its reserve of ETH is backed by its historical business.
The company focuses on blockchain infrastructure and was established in 2014, being one of the early blockchain companies listed on Nasdaq. Its core business focuses on the operation of Ethereum and other proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain networks, including running Ethereum nodes and providing data analysis platform ChainQ, offering staking and data services to DeFi and enterprises.
However, similarly, the company's financial performance is poor.
In 2024, BTCS's revenue was approximately $2.6 million, a year-on-year decline of 12%, mainly due to high node operating costs and intensified market competition. The net loss reached $5.8 million, falling into a financial dilemma of high investment and low returns.
BTCS has held ETH since 2021 and operates validator nodes, accumulating 14,600 ETH, much earlier than the aforementioned two listed companies' ETH reserve plans. In June and July of this year, BTCS accelerated ETH accumulation through AAVE DeFi lending and traditional financing, and on July 8, announced a plan to raise $100 million to further expand its ETH holdings.
Objectively speaking, increasing ETH holdings can enhance the staking capacity of validator nodes in BTCS's core business, improving gas fee revenue and market competitiveness. The market also responded positively, with this announcement causing BTCS's stock price to soar over 100% in a single day, rising from $2.50 to $5.25.
Bit Digital (BTBT): Selling BTC, fully transitioning to ETH
Bit Digital, Inc. (BTBT) is a blockchain technology company headquartered in New York, founded in 2015, initially focused on Bitcoin (BTC) mining, and gradually laid out Ethereum staking infrastructure starting in 2022, along with GPU cloud computing and asset management services.
Similarly, the company is also in financial losses; the financial report indicates that in the first quarter of 2025, revenue was $25.1 million, and after accounting adjustments, its losses were about $44.5 million.
In July 2025, the company increased its ETH holdings to 100,603 ETH (approximately $264 million), with ETH accounting for 60% of its assets, making it the second-largest holder of ETH, only behind SharpLink.
It is evident that these four companies share characteristics of poor financial conditions and low market capitalization, resembling certain low-market cap protocols in the crypto market with no revenue, which rapidly surged after gaining narrative and attention.
Key drivers behind the transformation
David Hoffman, founder of Bankless, had a very insightful observation on the phenomenon of ETH reserves in a recent article:
"The strategy is simple: incorporate ETH into the balance sheet and then market ETH to Wall Street... Ethereum itself has many narrative highlights; what ETH needs is a sufficiently energetic person who can excite Wall Street."
Connections and resources link the crypto narrative to traditional capital markets. From crypto moguls to investment banking giants, these four companies also have different key figures behind them.
SharpLink: Ethereum co-founder and his crypto gang
From facing delisting to becoming the largest holder of ETH, this transformation is inseparable from the involvement of Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin.
As the founder and CEO of ConsenSys, Lubin oversees important infrastructure in the Ethereum ecosystem, such as the MetaMask wallet and Infura (which handles over 50% of Ethereum transactions).
In May 2025, Lubin joined the SBET board as chairman, personally driving the $463 million financing. This is also closely related to the crypto VCs who have invested in various projects in the Ethereum ecosystem.
His own ConsenSys led the $425 million private placement for SBET, joining forces with ParaFi Capital (a top VC in the DeFi space, investing in Uniswap, Aave), Pantera Capital (an early investor in Ethereum, managing over $5 billion), and Galaxy Digital (managing an Ethereum ETF) and several other institutions.
Although there are community doubts that this is a conspiracy by the Ethereum Foundation, Lubin's connections and ConsenSys's resources undoubtedly give SBET the ability to be a pioneer in bringing Ethereum into Wall Street.
BitMine: Thomas Lee's connection with Silicon Valley VCs
Thomas Lee, a well-known Wall Street strategist and co-founder of Fundstrat, known for his accurate predictions, is the behind-the-scenes driver of BitMine (BMNR)'s ETH reserve strategy.
Lee has been bullish on Bitcoin since 2017 and predicts that ETH will reach $5,000-6,000 in 2024, announcing his appointment as chairman of the BMNR board in June 2025.
He once mentioned in an interview the reasons for betting on Ethereum:
"To put it simply, the real reason I chose Ethereum is that stablecoins are exploding. Circle is one of the best IPOs in five years, with a price-to-earnings ratio of 100 times EBITDA, bringing very good performance to some funds... Stablecoins are the ChatGPT of the crypto world, already entering the mainstream, and are evidence of Wall Street's attempt to 'equity-tokenize' tokens. Meanwhile, the crypto circle is 'tokenizing' equity, such as the dollar being tokenized."
At the same time, he stated on CNBC that BMNR will become the "MicroStrategy of Ethereum."
In the $250 million fundraising plan proposed by Lee, we also see the involvement of the well-known Silicon Valley VC Founders Fund, founded by Peter Thiel, which has invested in SpaceX, Palantir, and has heavily invested in crypto since 2021, including Ethereum, Solana, and Bullish Group, which also acquired CoinDesk.
Additionally, crypto-native institutions such as Pantera, FalconX, Kraken, Galaxy Digital, and DCG are also involved.
Bit Digital: The CEO was a Bitfinex advisor
Samir Tabar is the mastermind behind Bit Digital (BTBT)'s ETH reserve strategy, and he has a cross-border experience from Wall Street to the crypto circle.
Tabar previously served as the head of capital markets at Merrill Lynch, served as a strategic advisor for Bitfinex from 2017 to 2018, optimizing the trading process of USDT on the Ethereum network, and joined Bit Digital in 2021.
Tabar stated in a CNBC interview that Ethereum is a "blue-chip asset that is reshaping the financial system," emphasizing its immense potential in stablecoins and DeFi applications. The traditional finance background and crypto experience lend more credibility to Bit Digital's transformation, and its statements about "blue-chip assets" align with the narrative of revitalizing Ethereum.
In June 2025, Bit Digital raised $172 million through an ATM issuance to purchase ETH; major investors included BlackRock and investment bank underwriter H.C. Wainwright, the latter having provided financing support to Bit Digital multiple times, reaffirming BTBT as a 'buy' rating with a target price of $5-7.
BTCS: Actively using AAVE loans to acquire ETH
Compared to the previous three, BTCS CEO Charles Allen is relatively low-key.
However, he is also a veteran of the crypto industry, with blockchain experience starting from Bitcoin investment in 2011, shifting to Ethereum in 2014, and driving BTCS to become the first Nasdaq-listed blockchain company in 2016.
In June 2025, he led BTCS to borrow $2.5 million through AAVE to acquire 1,000 ETH, with plans to raise $100 million in July 2025. The investors also include ATW Partners and H.C. Wainwright, with the former being a hybrid venture capital/private equity firm based in New York, investing in both debt and equity.
From these four companies, we can see the commonality:
Each company has key figures related to the crypto circle, and there is also overlap in the fundraising targets of different companies.
Crypto funds and traditional funds that have invested in Ethereum are also behind the ETH reserve craze; the capital network of the Ethereum ecosystem is broad, which may also be another testament to the robustness of the Ethereum network itself.
Money never sleeps. As ETH reserve companies become the new meme stocks of 2025, the transformation of these enterprises will inevitably create wealth for some people; currently, it seems this feast of coins and stocks has not yet reached its end.
