Ethereum (ETH) on Solana

Arthur Hayes added another 1,332.5 ETH ($2.53 million) in a fresh on-chain purchase, extending an accumulation run that has brought roughly 3,270 ETH since he sold 6,000 ETH at a $606,000 loss in June. The reversal comes as institutional positioning in Ethereum deepens: iShares' Staked Ethereum ETF helped push the staking ratio above 33% in June, and ETFs and institutions now collectively hold more than 9% of total ETH supply. Bitmine's Tom Lee has argued that Wall Street is actively building on Ethereum in a way it did not during the 2022 bear market—a shift that some observers believe could position ETH to lead the next bull cycle.

Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR), chaired by Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee, has announced an explicit goal of accumulating 5% of Ethereum's total circulating supply, framing ETH as "a key bridge between blockchain infrastructure and AI applications" as Wall Street interest in both sectors grows. The company is pivoting away from traditional crypto mining toward an Ethereum treasury and staking platform model, reporting nine-month revenue of $59.87 million from its asset-light, staking-focused operations. BMNR's recent inclusion in the Russell 1000 index reflects growing institutional recognition of the strategy.

Claiming 5% of all ETH in existence represents a significant demand-side signal for the network, though the plan carries real execution risk: the company has less than one year of cash runway and has diluted shareholders substantially over the past year, leaving it dependent on capital markets to fund continued accumulation. Earnings are also volatile, sensitive to digital asset and derivative mark-to-market swings. Competition from larger holders and staking platforms — including Coinbase and established institutional players — adds further pressure to Bitmine's ambitions.

T. Rowe Price listed TKNZ on NYSE Arca on July 16, 2026, billing it as the first actively managed crypto ETF. SEC-approved in June 2026, the fund has five portfolio managers who select between 5 and 15 cryptocurrencies and set their own allocation weights rather than tracking an index. Ethereum holds the second-largest position at 18.42% of the opening portfolio, behind Bitcoin at 40.75%, with Solana, BNB, XRP, and Hyperliquid rounding out the rest. Custody of the underlying assets sits with Anchorage Digital. The fund launched with approximately $15 million in assets and carries a fee of 0.75% annually through May 2027, stepping up to 0.90% thereafter.

The launch is notable for Ethereum because it comes from a $1.9 trillion retirement-focused asset manager that chose active allocation over a passive Bitcoin-only wrapper. Ethereum's 18.42% slice — held at more than three times Hyperliquid's weighting and above XRP's — reflects a deliberate institutional view on ETH's role alongside Bitcoin in a diversified crypto portfolio. Active management means the allocation can shift as market conditions change, giving Ethereum ongoing exposure to inflows from a major traditional finance brand rather than a one-time inclusion in a static index product.

Fundstrat's Tom Lee argued that Ethereum is "bottoming" and entering what he described as an "exponential" mainstream adoption phase, pointing to Wall Street's growing presence building on the network and an accelerating wave of tokenization as evidence the cycle has turned. Lee framed the environment as a "crypto spring," contrasting current macro tailwinds with the headwinds that defined the 2022 bear market, and warned that investors "rage-quitting at the bottom" risk missing the next leg up. Morgan Stanley's recent submission of amended ETF filings covering both Ethereum and Solana was cited as a concrete sign of institutional appetite.

The bullish case was reinforced by Tom DeMark, a technical analyst serving as BitMine Immersion's cryptocurrency timing advisor, who set a $2,200 price target for ETH by August 2026. DeMark's model draws a structural parallel between Ethereum's current chart and the S&P 500's behavior in 1987, framing the risk-reward as skewed to the upside. BitMine itself holds 5.77 million ETH — approximately $10.2 billion at current prices — making it the largest corporate ETH treasury in existence and giving the firm a direct stake in the thesis. ETH was trading near $1,828 at the time of the report, down roughly 40% year-to-date.

Arthur Hayes, the co-founder of BitMEX, has reversed course on Ethereum just weeks after exiting a large position at a loss. In late June 2026, Hayes sold 6,000 ETH, booking a loss of roughly $606,000, citing concerns over energy prices, AI-linked IPOs, and political uncertainty as headwinds for crypto markets.

On July 15, Hayes bought back over 1,900 ETH in a single day — 646 ETH ($1.24 million) received from Galaxy Digital and a separate purchase of 1,293 ETH ($2.48 million) — at approximately $1,920 per ETH. The re-entry marks a sharp about-face for a trader who has become known for making bold public calls on tokens including SYN, HYPE, ZEC, NEAR, and WLD, and then reversing them shortly after.