Global institutional investors are flooding into the cryptocurrency market at an unprecedented pace. Data shows that in just the past 24 hours, the US spot Ethereum ETF recorded a net inflow of $455 million, while the Bitcoin spot ETF also attracted $88.1 million. Meanwhile, listed companies and crypto whales represented by SharpLink and BitMine are also aggressively buying in the secondary market.
According to monitoring by data institutions such as Farside Investors and TraderT, the inflow of funds into US spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs remains strong. On August 26, the US spot Ethereum ETF saw a single-day net inflow of as much as $455 million, setting a record for the second highest in history. The Bitcoin ETF also maintained a steady inflow trend, with a net inflow of $88.1 million yesterday.
Beyond the ETF channels, the buying actions of listed companies and on-chain whales are equally astonishing. Nasdaq-listed company SharpLink announced on August 26 that it invested $252 million to acquire 56,533 ETH, bringing its total ETH holdings to nearly 800,000, worth about $3.7 billion. Another listed company, BitMine, received over 130,000 ETH from multiple institutional platforms in the past 12 hours, valued at nearly $600 million.
Supporters of the Bitcoin treasury strategy are also not backing down. The Wisconsin Investment Board increased its holdings of MicroStrategy shares by $2 million, indirectly increasing its Bitcoin exposure. The Japanese listed company Metaplanet plans to spend $837 million in the next two months to purchase Bitcoin. On-chain data also confirms this wave of 'stockpiling'; Lookonchain monitored that in the past 8 hours, market makers FalconX and Galaxy Digital transferred over 35,000 ETH to 8 newly established wallet addresses, valued at about $164 million.
The current institutional entry presents new characteristics that are starkly different from the bull market of 2021. First, the entry channels are more compliant and diversified, with spot ETFs as the main force, supplemented by listed companies' treasury allocations and on-chain whale increases. Second, the investment targets have expanded from a dominance of Bitcoin to other mainstream assets like Ethereum, indicating a deepening institutional understanding of the crypto ecosystem. Finally, the investment logic of institutions has also matured; in addition to valuing the scarcity of assets, they are beginning to focus on staking yields, ecological applications, and other fundamental values.
