$BTC $ETH ETH Hits $3K, Fueling Altcoin Season Hopes

Ethereum’s price recently touched $3,000, sparking excitement about a potential altcoin season. Sharplink Gaming, a company that shifted from gaming to crypto, has added another 21,487 ETH ($64.24M) to its Ethereum treasury. This follows its previous purchase of 10,000 ETH from the Ethereum Foundation. In just under two months, Sharplink has bought 253,000 ETH at an average price of $2,647, spending over $600M, despite originally planning to allocate $425M.

Backed by Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin, Sharplink's crypto pivot has already paid off, with unrealized profits of over $79M as ETH gains 17.75% in the past week and briefly surpasses $3,000 for the first time since February 2025.

Notably, Sharplink’s stock (SBET) has surged 486% since its ETH purchases began—far outpacing Ethereum’s 17% gain in the same period. This mirrors MicroStrategy’s strong stock performance relative to Bitcoin. Although Sharplink’s share value far exceeds the ETH per-share backing ($10.40 vs. $21.50), its stock is still below its all-time high of $124.

With its latest buy, Sharplink is now the largest ETH holder, surpassing even the Ethereum Foundation’s 242,489 ETH.

Altcoin Season Buzz Grows

Crossing the $3K threshold is psychologically important for Ethereum. Around 80% of ETH holders are now in profit, based on Santiment data. ETH futures volume recently overtook Bitcoin’s, and Bitcoin dominance has dropped from 66% to 64.5%, adding to alt-season speculation.

In addition, Ethereum ETFs saw $1.10B in inflows in July, putting the month on track to be the second-best since ETH ETF trading began in 2024.