Institutional funds and listed companies are massively buying and pledging, with Ethereum's price breaking through $4,300, once again challenging historical highs
(Previous overview: Ethereum's market value once exceeded Mastercard and Netflix, knocking on the door of the top 25 global assets)
(Background supplement: Ethereum breaks through $4,300 with a 7% surge, how far is it from the historical high?)
The crypto market is stirring again. According to Coingecko's quotation on the 10th, Ethereum (ETH) is now priced at $4,322, firmly staying above $4,300. The driving force comes from the consecutive actions of whales and listed companies, and the market liquidity structure is quietly being rewritten.
Whale: $210 Million Sweep Kicks Off
On-chain monitoring platform Onchain Lens recorded that a whale, through institutional accounts like Galaxy Digital and FalconX, has added 49,533 ETH at once, with a market value of about $210 million, raising the total holdings to 221,166 ETH, equivalent to nearly $1 billion. More importantly, this is not an isolated case. The platform points out that institutions collectively swept in over 100,000 ETH in early August, amounting to about $361 million, indicating that institutional buying is replacing retail speculation and forming continuous buying pressure.
SharpLink: Pledging ETH as Treasury Stock
Meanwhile, gambling technology company SharpLink (SBET)'s move is more strategic. The company completed a $200 million capital increase on August 7th, and according to Ember's monitoring, it seemingly converted 52,809 ETH (about $220 million) today and pledged all of them. Currently, SharpLink holds 621,000 ETH, with a market value of about $2.65 billion, at an average holding price of $3,226. Large-scale pledging not only creates additional revenue for the company but also locks up circulating tokens, directly reducing market selling pressure and becoming the "steel beam" of ETH's price floor.
ETF Inflow and Rebalancing: Supply Impact Accelerates
Although Galaxy Digital reduced its ETH holdings in the second quarter from 155,000 to 90,500 and added 4,272 Bitcoins, reflecting asset allocation rebalancing, these tokens were quickly taken over by other institutions. The large-scale transaction facilitated by liquidity provider FalconX made the large-amount turnover process almost price-neutral. Notably, spot ETH ETF has attracted over $2 billion in a single week, continuously amplifying the "supply impact".
Looking at these capital flows, Ethereum stands at the $4,300 level, with whales' purchases reducing market selling pressure, SharpLink's lock-up writing a new paradigm for corporate treasury, and ETFs converting scattered demand into a stable spot absorption channel. These forces are collectively pushing ETH from a "speculative target" to a "strategic asset".
If institutional allocation continues to expand and blockchain application scenarios deepen, ETH may challenge higher price targets. However, investors still need to pay attention to the macro interest rate environment and institutional rebalancing rhythm, as similar-scale de-leveraging could also bring instant pullbacks. Understanding the source of funds and lock-up structure will be key to assessing ETH's next move.
