Author | Wu Blockchain
Top 10 News of the Week
1. Ethereum MicroStrategy Explosion, Cathie Wood Deeply Involved link
From 2025, four US stock companies represented by SharpLink Gaming, Bitmine Immersion Tech, Bit Digital, and BTCS Inc. have constructed an "ETH MicroStrategy" by massively purchasing ETH and engaging in on-chain staking, different from MicroStrategy's holding pattern. This strategy not only reshaped corporate balance sheet structures but also promoted Ethereum's narrative leap in the capital market. This article systematically combs through the core logic of these four companies in terms of funding paths, on-chain deployment, strategic motivations, and risk governance through ten key questions.
As of July 21, 2025, SharpLink Gaming, Bitmine Immersion Tech, Bit Digital, and BTCS Inc. are among the companies with the most ETH holdings in the US stock market. SharpLink Gaming holds about 358K ETH, Bitmine follows closely with about 300.7K; Bit Digital holds about 120.3K, and BTCS Inc. discloses holdings of 31.9K. The current market value of SharpLink, Bitmine, Bit Digital, and BTCS's ETH (calculated at approximately $3,573 per unit) is about $1.278 billion, $1.074 billion, $429 million, and $114 million respectively. Compared to their latest estimated market values (of $2.9 billion, $3.4 billion, $1.23 billion, and $153 million respectively), the ETH asset proportions are: SharpLink: about 44%; Bitmine: about 32%; Bit Digital: about 35%; BTCS: about 74%.
Currently, SharpLink and Bitmine have initially formed a market perception as representative companies of the "ETH MicroStrategy".
SharpLink, originally a sports prediction and interactive gaming technology provider, has gradually increased ETH holdings through PIPE and ATM financing since 2025, using it as a core balance sheet configuration. The related financing was led by ConsenSys Software Inc., with participation from well-known crypto capitals such as Pantera Capital, Electric Capital, ParaFi Capital, and Galaxy Digital. Board Chairman Joseph Lubin (Ethereum co-founder, Consensys founder) is considered a key driver of this strategic transformation, with his deep background in the blockchain field providing directional support for introducing Ethereum reserves.
Bitmine was originally a blockchain infrastructure company, mainly operating Bitcoin mining sites and selling liquid cooling hardware, with business coverage in low-cost energy regions like Texas and Trinidad. In June 2025, the company raised about $250 million through a private placement of 55.6 million shares at $4.50 per share to expand ETH reserves. Crypto capitals like Founders Fund and Pantera Capital participated. Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee was appointed as board chairman to lead the ETH strategic path.
Notably, Bitmine's new round of financing received strong support from Cathie Wood. On July 23, Bitmine announced receiving a total strategic investment of $182 million from ARK Invest, with ARK's multiple funds collectively subscribing to 4,773,444 common shares of BMNR. Bitmine stated that the entire $177 million in net financing will be used to purchase ETH to advance its long-term goal of "acquiring 5% ETH".
In this investment, Cathie Wood's team stated: We believe cryptocurrencies, especially L1 tokens with smart contracts, represent a unique and transformative asset class. Ethereum stands out as a foundation: it ensures on-chain economics through proof of stake, enables transactions, and serves as a programmable collateral at the protocol layer. Given these unique characteristics, we are excited to explore investment tools and strategies tailored to this emerging field.
2. Ethereum Validator Exit Queue Currently Around 688,000 ETH, Hitting Historic High link
With Ethereum's year-to-date rally exceeding 160%, the ETH validator exit queue has surged. Data from validatorqueue shows that as of July 25, the amount of ETH queued for exit has reached 688,000, with a total value of about $2.55 billion at current prices, and an exit waiting time exceeding 11 days, hitting a historic high. Analysts believe this round of exits is mainly due to some early stakers choosing to take profits after the price increase. Meanwhile, with ETH treasury-type enterprises like SharpLink Gaming and Bitmine continuing to enter the market, there is still strong staking demand, with 30,800 ETH currently waiting to enter the network, with a queue time exceeding 5 days.
[The translation continues in the same manner for the remaining paragraphs...]Leaders from the Solana Foundation, Anza, Jito Labs, DoubleZero, Drift, and Multicoin Capital jointly wrote a roadmap for "Internet Capital Markets". They proposed a future evolution centered on Application-Controlled Execution (ACE), aiming to build the next-generation decentralized, high-performance financial infrastructure. The roadmap points out that the current biggest challenge is market microstructure optimization, with ACE allowing smart contracts to control transaction sequencing with millisecond-level precision. In the long-term plan, Solana will implement the Multi-Leader Concurrent Proposal (MCL) architecture to break through the "single proposer bottleneck", enhance censorship resistance, and achieve global market synchronized response.
9. 70-Year-Old Hong Kong Man Falls into Cryptocurrency Romance Scam link
A retired 70-year-old Hong Kong man received a message on WhatsApp from someone claiming to be a female neighbor, leading to a late-life romance without ever meeting in person. The woman claimed to work at a Singapore exchange and have insider information about cryptocurrency investments, promising lucrative returns. The elderly man transferred a total of 3,272,700 Hong Kong dollars across 37 transactions to 34 bank accounts provided by the woman. It was only when he reached the ATM withdrawal limit and went to the bank to withdraw a large sum of cash that a bank employee noticed something suspicious and alerted the anti-fraud coordination center, ultimately exposing the scam. The man lost over 3.27 million Hong Kong dollars and incurred nearly a million in debt. Hong Kong police stated that in the past two weeks, they received nearly 20 online romance scam cases related to investments, with 40% of victims over 60 years old, totaling losses of over 10 million Hong Kong dollars.
10. National Financial and Development Laboratory Director: Stablecoins Will Form a New Interconnected Mode with Fiat Currency link
Li Yang, director of the National Financial and Development Laboratory, recently analyzed stablecoins from five perspectives at a symposium on "Development Prospects of RMB Stablecoins". He pointed out that stablecoins are not true currency, but rather an intermediary tool for payment and clearing driven by technology, which will form a new interconnected mode with fiat currency. He emphasized that sovereign currency is irreplaceable, and stablecoins cannot bypass exchange rates and national currency issuance rights. He believes technological innovation should not challenge national monetary sovereignty but should coordinate with central bank digital currencies and private payment systems. He suggested promoting RMB internationalization, exploring onshore and offshore RMB stablecoin development paths, establishing a fusion mechanism with digital RMB and central bank custody systems, and guiding stablecoins to jointly construct future payment patterns with legal tender.
Key Financing Events
- Volcon first purchased 280.14 BTC and completed over $500 million private placement for Bitcoin Treasury strategy link
- BitMine announces strategic investment of $182 million from ARK Invest link
- Windtree Therapeutics announces up to $520 million financing, 99% intended for BNB purchase link
- TLGY merges with StablecoinX and raises $360 million to promote ENA Treasury strategy link
- Gaia Labs raises $20 million, led by ByteTrade and Mirana link
- European investment app Lightyear announces $23 million financing link
- Poseidon announces $15 million seed round link
- Web3 game studio Delabs Games completes $5.2 million new financing link
- Questflow announces $6.5 million seed round link
- Syntetika under Hilbert Group completes $2.5 million seed round link
- Swiss Web3 domain registrar Freename completes $6.5 million Series A financing link
- D-GN announces $5 million Pre-Seed round link
For more industry financing events, please visit crypto-fundraising.info.
