No one originally expected that the "top seat" of Ethereum's corporate holdings would change hands in just 35 days.
Represented by Tom Lee, the company behind BitMine achieved this: this once obscure small company on Nasdaq leveraged a PIPE financing and three rounds of structured accumulation to increase its ETH holdings from zero to 830,000, completing a dramatic overtaking of SharpLink and becoming the world's largest ETH treasury.
This is not just a numerical victory or defeat, but a clash of two different lineages of capital—SharpLink, representing the "crypto OGs," slowly hoarding coins and waiting for a price increase; while BitMine, representing "Wall Street power," realizes profits through pushing prices up. Low cost and high leverage, hoarding mentality and narrative strategy, reflect a direct confrontation of two worldviews.
They differ not only in their methods of buying coins but also in their race to answer a critical question: in the next phase of crypto finance, who has the right to define the "price" of ETH?
We attempt to understand this quietly occurring yet intense industry shift from multiple perspectives.
Why are there two lineages of ETH?
If BitMine represents a Wall Street-style structural assault, then SharpLink's existence is precisely a continuation of the "ETH native" logic.
The divide between these two companies lies not only in their holding rhythms, disclosure methods, and narrative strategies but, more importantly, in the distinct backgrounds and purposes they represent.
SharpLink—coins in the hands of OGs, hoarded for too long and moving too slowly. Analyzing SharpLink's shareholder composition reveals a nearly complete coverage of the entire Ethereum ecosystem's capital chain.
The first category is the original lineage camp: Consensys (founded by ETH co-founder Joseph Lubin) controls core infrastructures like MetaMask and Infura, with Lubin serving as the chairman of SharpLink's board. The second category is the infrastructure camp: Pantera, Arrington, Primitive, etc., deeply engaged in Layer2, DeFi protocols, and cross-chain facilities. The third category is the financialization camp: Galaxy Digital, GSR, Ondo Finance, etc., directly operating in ETH's institutionalization, derivatives, and custody businesses, making their holdings manageable and value-adding institutional assets.
This capital binding not only amplifies SharpLink's "ETH treasury" narrative but also provides resource leverage in buying, staking, and reducing positions, becoming a bridge for Wall Street to understand ETH.
The initial ETH holding structure also reflects this "OG attribute": sourced from internal transfers within team wallets rather than the public market; single purchase sizes are relatively small but distributed over a long period; emphasizing safety, liquidity management, and audit cooperation.
According to financial reports and on-chain estimates, SharpLink's ETH acquisition cost ranges between $1,500 and $1,800, with some early holdings costing even less than $1,000. Because of this, the proportion of "hoarding" shareholders in its structure is extremely high, making it unsurprising if natural selling pressure occurs when the price returns to around $4,000.
Moreover, as early as June 12, SharpLink submitted a document named S-ASR, the core content of which is—once the registration takes effect, the stock can be sold immediately.
This path is not wrong, but it naturally brings three issues: the OG team's "hoarding" mentality makes them more focused on cost-benefit ratios, and once the coin price rises significantly, it easily triggers a desire to reduce positions; the information flow within the OG network is more closed and cautious, not inclined to actively play the narrative card; prioritizing on-chain operations, it appears lagging in financial report disclosure efficiency and capital market operations.
This is precisely the deeper reason why, in the third quarter of 2025, SharpLink seemed a step behind BitMine's rhythmic strategy of "disclosure—financing—accumulation—price increase."
Image of Vitalik Buterin: Source: coingecko
In contrast, BitMine arrived in the ETH space almost in the posture of "typical Wall Street capital entry." First, the PIPE financing structure itself is filled with financial engineering implications: using a cash + warrant + ETH combination subscription structure; participants include mainstream U.S. stock structure investors like Galaxy Digital, ARK Invest, Founders Fund; the chip distribution is transparent, with a lock-up period set, which is beneficial for stabilizing valuation models.
We can glimpse clues from the backgrounds of its board members—many come from investment banks, private equity, and hedge funds, familiar with PIPE financing, compliance arbitrage, and refinancing cycle operations. In their eyes, ETH is not a "digital currency," but a new type of "priceable, tradable, and cashable" financial asset.
The difference between OGs and Wall Street is not just a rhythm difference but a conflict of motives.
This has forced SharpLink to start thinking: is having only OG's ETH not enough?
They seem to have provided a new answer to this question—starting on August 7, they began introducing new Wall Street institutional investors to participate in their $200 million registered directed issuance.
This is a "power transfer" of the Ethereum narrative: gradually shifting from the hands of OGs to capital that can articulate financial reports, tell good stories, and run structures effectively.
The future may not necessarily be dominated by BitMine, but it is foreseeable that the next round of ETH pricing power will no longer be determined by crypto OGs, but by who masters the narrative structure and who can secure more Wall Street financing, thus possessing more "narrative chips."
How to seize the ETH crown in 35 days?
On July 1, 2025, BitMine's ETH holdings were zero; by August 5, their disclosed holdings had reached 833,137. In just 35 days, this company, previously without any crypto label in the public market, transformed from an "unknown" to the "world's largest Ethereum treasury company," completing an overtaking of SharpLink.
What exactly did BitMine do?
BitMine's timing was extremely precise. During its 35-day explosive period, there was almost a rhythmic announcement every 7 days, each one like a scripted progression: First week (July 1–7): PIPE financing of $250 million landed, publicly disclosing the completion of the first batch purchase of about 150,000 ETH; Second week (July 8–14): additional purchase of 266,000 ETH, total holdings surpassing 560,000; Third week (July 15–21): additional purchase of 272,000 ETH, cumulative holdings exceeding 830,000;
These three rounds of disclosures did not follow the routine updates in quarterly reports but were inserted through media, official websites, and investor relations letters to convey clear signals to the market: "We are continuously buying ETH on a large scale, and we are the leaders in institutional holdings growth."
This approach subverted the traditional disclosure logic of treasury companies that "wait for financial reports to yield results," shifting to a "narrative-driven" rhythmic offensive.
More importantly, its accumulation rhythm was highly synchronized with market trends. BitMine's average purchase price was not a blind buy but utilized market adjustment windows to "time the rhythm" for low-cost acquisitions. According to PIPE document disclosures, its average ETH purchase price was $3,491, perfectly avoiding the peak while hitting the sensitive range before ETH entered a new upward channel.
This precise layout was not coincidental but was complemented by a complete toolchain provided by Galaxy Digital, including "OTC structure design + on-chain delivery + custody settlement," allowing it to efficiently absorb large amounts of ETH without triggering severe price fluctuations.
At the same time, BitMine's stock price also experienced explosive growth in sync with its disclosures. From $4 at the beginning of July, it surged to $41 in early August, an increase of over 900%. Its total market capitalization jumped from less than $200 million to over $3 billion.
What is even more noteworthy is that after each update of BitMine's holdings, not only did its stock price rise, but the ETH spot market also saw a simultaneous increase in volume. The market began to view "BitMine buying—ETH price rising" as a logically related event, further reinforcing the narrative's closed loop.
This "market expectation—structural disclosure—asset purchase—price feedback" positive cycle was seen by Wall Street as a typical case of market capitalization reshaping. However, unlike before, it not only reshaped the company's valuation but also redefined the market dominance of the ETH treasury through narrative means.
BitMine is no longer just a coin-holding enterprise; it is becoming a key hub of the "institutional structure of Ethereum." In this process, it does not wait for market recognition but actively "manufactures" recognition through rhythm, disclosure, rhetoric, structure, and pricing models.
In summary: this is not a "wait for the rise" accumulation but a "force the rise" structure.
From nothing to something, from buying coins to pushing up valuations, from disclosure to leading pricing, BitMine has created a "structural rise" template in 35 days.
And it may be the earliest financial prototype to emerge in the next Ethereum bull market narrative.
Tom Lee: The New House Advocate
As the co-founder and research head of Fundstrat Global Advisors, Tom Lee is one of the most influential bridge figures between the U.S. stock and crypto markets. He understands macro data, public opinion manipulation, and, more importantly, knows how to present "rises" in a reasonable and appealing manner.
His fame does not come from precise predictions but from high frequency, strong narratives, and strong positioning. The popular saying goes: "Tom Lee may not always be right, but he always speaks early, loudly, and memorably."
His most representative tool is the Bitcoin Misery Index (BMI)—a "market sentiment indicator" he designed, which quantifies the market's "pain index" by integrating trading volume, return rates, volatility, and other data.
The greatest significance of this index lies not in predicting rises and falls but in providing "data backing" for his bullish statements. For example, when the BMI is extremely low (27), he might say, "This is the moment for long-term holders to buy the dip"; when the BMI is extremely high (>80), he would claim, "This indicates that a structural bull market has arrived"; if prices fall, he would say, "The sentiment has not yet fully released"; if prices rise, he would say, "The on-chain structure is repairing."
Regardless of rises or falls, there is always something to say; no matter how the market behaves, he can always be bullish.
Image of Tom Lee: Source: coingape
Tom Lee's "structured shouting" style has several notable characteristics.
He always provides a new target price. He once predicted in 2017 that Bitcoin "would surge to $250,000 in 2022," and later revised it in 2021 to "expected to reach $200,000 in 2024"; when the market performs poorly, he cites factors like halving cycles, inflation adjustments, and Federal Reserve policies to "delay" expectations while upgrading the logic.
Platform linkage + frequent appearances. He is a regular guest on CNBC's "Fast Money" and a fixed commentator for Bloomberg; his own Twitter (@fundstrat) is almost updated daily, and he synchronizes YouTube interviews, using short video summaries and charts to disseminate his views; he also regularly updates data summaries with charts on the Fundstrat website for media to reference.
Emotions drive investors, narratives drive institutions. Retail investors listen to him call the bottom; institutions listen to him discuss structure. He can create psychological expectations suitable for different groups within the same model, forming "multiple narrative nesting." For example, during a price crash, he repeatedly emphasized the "institutional buying window" while urging retail investors "not to miss the opportunity to get in before the halving."
From prediction to faith creation. He doesn't just say "it will rise," he tells you "the structure of the rise is reasonable," "ETH will become a new anchor for tech stocks," "BTC is the new generation of digital gold." He transforms "result-oriented" bullish calls into "faith-oriented" asset re-evaluations.
In the construction of the Ethereum narrative for 2024-2025, Tom Lee once again became an important driving force. He doesn't just say ETH will rise; he states "ETH will become part of corporate balance sheets," a viewpoint that directly provides public opinion support for narrative-driven operations like BitMine.
In the rise of BitMine, we can almost see the deep shadow of Tom Lee's rhetorical logic: using "structural indicators" like ETH-per-share to measure fundamentals; using "cyclical logic" to explain the reasonableness of rapid increases; using "institutional entry" to mask the aggressive strategies behind high-cost purchases.
Tom Lee is undoubtedly the king of narratives; he doesn't rely on being right but on being loud.
Epilogue
In traditional financial markets, asset prices are determined by profitability and cash flow; however, in today's world of crypto assets, prices often exist before value, and narratives frequently dominate the generation of valuations.
The rise of BitMine is not just a change in the ETH figure on a corporate balance sheet but a narrative reconstruction around "how to make institutions understand ETH." SharpLink clings to old logic, slowly hoarding coins on-chain; BitMine, on the other hand, quickly completes a "consensus turnover" by stepping to the beat of structure and emotion.
This is not a question of who is more honest, but rather who can more quickly, clearly, and structurally turn "crypto assets" into "financial assets."
Behind this, a larger round of narrative competition is quietly brewing: Who will be the "long-term valuation anchor" for ETH on Wall Street? Who will construct the next mainstream model of "ETH-per-share"? Who can turn liquidity narratives into structural income? Who will ultimately become the next dominant force in institutional pricing discourse?
The market will provide the answers. But it is certain that this round of the Ethereum treasury battle is no longer just a relay baton of on-chain faith.
The ceiling for Ethereum pricing no longer belongs to the earliest bullish OGs but to the Wall Street capital that tells the best stories.
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