Ethereum giant invests billions to enter Wall Street: a game of a new financial order

Authors: Isabelle Lee, Muyao Shen, Bloomberg

Compiled by: Saoirse, Foresight News

Translator's Note: As ETH has surged nearly 75% to near historical highs since June, a capital feast surrounding Ethereum is quietly spreading to Wall Street. In the old bank halls of Manhattan, cryptocurrency advocates are proclaiming the arrival of a new financial era—this time, the protagonist is no longer Bitcoin, but Ethereum, seen as a "programmable ledger." From companies holding over $6 billion in ETH to institutions trying to incorporate it into mainstream financial products, capital is betting that Ethereum is not just a speculative tool, but could become the core infrastructure connecting Wall Street with new technologies. Behind this "lock-up competition" is a struggle for the future financial order and another assault by cryptocurrencies on the traditional financial system.

Last week, a gathering in the grand hall of Cipriani 42nd Street in Manhattan was imbued with special significance by cryptocurrency supporters. Under marble columns and crystal chandeliers, they declared that a new financial era beyond Bitcoin has already arrived.

On August 12, 2025, at the "NextFin NYC" event, part of the "Ethereum NYC 2025" conference series. Photo: Isabelle Lee/Bloomberg

Just days ago, the world's second-largest cryptocurrency, ETH, surged about 75% since June, nearing its historical peak. At this moment, executives from the digital asset space gathered at the old site of Bowery Savings Bank, both to celebrate a milestone victory and to send a clear signal to the financial world: Ethereum is far from an ordinary speculative tool; it is the core of the future monetary system; companies that incorporate it into their reserves may accelerate the realization of this vision.

Tom Lee, chairman of BitMine Immersion Technologies, is a staunch advocate of this idea. This company, once obscure on Wall Street, now holds over $6 billion worth of Ethereum, with a clear and bold strategy: not just to hold Ethereum, but to build a complete business ecosystem around it. Tom Lee repeatedly emphasized in public speeches: "Ethereum will be the intersection of Wall Street and artificial intelligence."

This assertion may seem radical, as the main activities on the Ethereum network currently revolve around token trading among cryptocurrency users. However, in Tom Lee's view, the underlying logic is self-evident: unlike Bitcoin, Ethereum is not just a currency, but a programmable distributed ledger. Software programs known as "smart contracts" can run automatically on it, completing transactions, interest payments, or loan management without the need for bank intervention.

People use it to exchange, transfer stablecoins, or obtain crypto-collateralized loans, with each operation requiring Ethereum as a transaction fee. The more businesses and projects that rely on its infrastructure, the stronger the demand for Ethereum becomes. If corporate treasury managers quietly accumulate Ethereum and their judgment is correct, they can not only profit from price increases but also seize the structural advantage before the future financial system takes shape.

Despite being the most active blockchain by on-chain transaction volume, Ethereum faces dual challenges: on one hand, competitors like Solana are rising with faster speeds and lower costs (its price has reached new highs this year); on the other hand, the market still lacks steadfast buyers for sustained entry. Tom Lee and Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin believe that corporate reserve plans are a structural solution to the demand problem—by locking in supply, they can build a solid bottom support for the market.

"The amount of Ethereum currently in circulation is still vast," Lubin said in a July interview with Bloomberg, "It's like a race: if we and more projects lock up a large amount of Ethereum, it will greatly improve the supply-demand dynamics."

However, this vision is facing another kind of resistance: financial giants are building private "blockchain tracks." Stablecoin issuer Circle is constructing its own network, bypassing the shared infrastructure model advocated by Ethereum by lowering fees and retaining customers. If this privatization trend continues, Ethereum may be excluded from the very systems it hopes to empower. According to Bloomberg Terminal reports, payment giant Stripe is also taking similar actions.

The strategy of corporate reserves of Ethereum directly draws from the most well-known promoter of Bitcoin, Michael Saylor. In 2020, Saylor transformed Strategy Inc. into a quasi-Bitcoin ETF, accumulating $72 billion worth of Bitcoin. Although the scale of Bitcoin mining is small (only 1% of Ethereum's circulation), the ambition is significant: to lock up enough assets to make scarcity a natural moat. Tom Lee predicts that if Wall Street makes a significant entry into Ethereum projects, its price could soar from the current approximately $4,300 to $60,000. However, Saylor's success coincided with a historic bull market for cryptocurrencies, and whether Ethereum can replicate this path remains uncertain.

"Michael Saylor of Strategy has proven over four years that holding underlying assets is immensely valuable; and through the Ethereum reserve strategy, leveraging liquid public companies can create value for shareholders far exceeding the underlying asset itself." Joseph Chalom, co-CEO of Sharplink Gaming, stated on a Bloomberg television program. This former BlackRock executive helped the world's largest asset management company launch an Ethereum ETF (code ETHA), and now SharpLink has accumulated over $3 billion in Ethereum.

Supporters believe that the data is quite favorable for Ethereum: the issuance of Ethereum is already low, and a portion of each transaction fee is permanently burned, which over time could even reduce its total supply; while corporate long-term reserve behavior will further exacerbate this scarcity. However, skeptics point out another cyclical risk: just as decisively as corporate holders buy in, they may also sell off quickly, which could amplify market downturns.

"The crypto circle favors reserve-type companies because they believe they will only continue to buy and hold," analyzed Omid Malekan, a part-time professor at Columbia Business School, "but there is no free lunch. Most people overlook a possibility: if a crypto bear market occurs in the future, these companies may start to sell off."

Compared to Bitcoin, one major advantage of Ethereum is the "staking" mechanism—locking up Ethereum to support network operations can yield returns. This shifts it from a static commodity to a yield-generating asset similar to dividend stocks. However, currently, mainstream ETF investors cannot directly access this yield.

According to regulatory filings from July, BlackRock is working with other issuers to push for the addition of staking features to the ETHA product, which means retail investors are expected to obtain both price appreciation and staking returns through a single product. The fund has reached a scale of $16 billion in just over a year.

Despite the active Ethereum ecosystem, it has yet to penetrate everyday financial scenarios: such as payments, shopping, or savings, with many tokenized projects on Wall Street still in testing phases. However, Tom Lee believes a transformation is underway: AI companies, payment firms, and large financial institutions are taking the lead in building applications on Ethereum.

"I see multiple trends pushing Ethereum toward becoming the most important macro trading windfall in the next 10 to 15 years," he said.

Today, supporters of Ethereum have extended from banking research departments to the political arena: the decentralized finance company World Liberty Financial, linked to the Trump camp, disclosed this year that it purchased millions of dollars in Ethereum; Eric Trump, co-founder of American Bitcoin Corp. (a Bitcoin mining company associated with the Trump family), publicly cheered for its price surge; Standard Chartered raised its year-end target price from $4,000 to $7,500; and Ark Investment Management has also raised its long-term expectations.

The price increase is real, corporate holdings are indisputable, and the conviction is strong enough. But the true test for Ethereum is not whether it can continue to rise, but whether it can stand firm—whether companies can withstand the next round of crashes, and whether tokens can transcend their positioning as speculative tools.

"Financial institutions see Ethereum as a natural choice," said Tomasz Stańczak, executive director of the Ethereum Foundation, "They understand what products need to be built, which aspects can be optimized, and where efficiency leaps can be achieved."