No one expected that the "throne" of Ethereum corporate hodlers would change hands in just 35 days.

BitMine—this small, long-obscure company on the Nasdaq, under Tom Lee's leadership, used a PIPE financing and multiple rounds of structured accumulation to increase its ETH reserves from zero to 1.5 million coins (holding market value of about $6.6 billion). On the day of the ETH price plummet, the company's stock price also retraced by 7%, but that didn't prevent it from surpassing SharpLink in one fell swoop, claiming the top spot as the world's largest ETH treasury.

This is not a simple digital reversal, but a direct clash between two capital bloodlines: SharpLink: the OG crypto approach—accumulating slowly at a low cost, waiting for price cycles to rise. BitMine: Wall Street engineering—high leverage plus a strong narrative, cashing out chips during the push-up.

What they are vying for is not just chips, but an answer: in the second half of crypto finance, who will define the "price" of ETH?

Tom Lee's "roadmap" provides a clue: first dip to $4,075, then rebound to $5,100. This looks like a fluctuation script dominated by structured funds: using retracements to clean up chips, and using rebounds to establish pricing and cash out.

BitMine's sudden rise to the top signifies that the pricing power of ETH is transitioning from "coin hoarders" to "structured capital." Next, the narrative and leverage will be as important as the fundamentals—if not more important.

We are trying to deconstruct this from different dimensions.

Why are there two bloodlines of ETH?

If BitMine represents a Wall Street-style structural blitz, then SharpLink's presence is precisely a continuation of the "ETH native" logic.

The difference between these two companies lies not only in their holding pace, disclosure methods, and Narrative strategies, but more importantly in what they represent: two fundamentally different backgrounds and purposes.

SharpLink—the coins held by the OGs, hoarded for too long, moved too slowly. Breaking down SharpLink's shareholder lineup, it almost covers the entire capital chain of the Ethereum ecosystem.

The first category is the native lineage camp: Consensys (founded by ETH co-founder Joseph Lubin) controls core infrastructure such as MetaMask, Infura, with Lubin himself serving as the Chairman of the SharpLink board. The second category is the infrastructure camp: Pantera, Arrington, Primitive, deeply involved in Layer2, DeFi protocols, and cross-chain facilities. The third category is the financialization camp: Galaxy Digital, GSR, Ondo Finance, among others, operating directly in ETH's institutionalized, derivatives, and custody business, making their holdings a manageable and appreciable institutional asset.

This capital lock-up not only amplified SharpLink's "ETH Treasury" narrative, but also provided resource leverage for its buying, staking, and unwinding processes, serving as a bridge for Wall Street to understand ETH.

The early ETH holding structure also reflected this "OG attribute": originating from team wallet internal transfers rather than the open market; the individual purchase size was small, but the distribution period was extremely long; emphasis was placed on security, liquidity management, and audit cooperation.

According to financial reports and on-chain estimates, SharpLink's ETH cost basis range was concentrated between $1,500-$1,800, with some early holdings costing even less than $1,000. Therefore, the "HODLer" proportion in its shareholder structure is extremely high, and if the price returns to around $4,000, a natural sell-off would not be unexpected.

Furthermore, as early as June 12, SharpLink submitted a document called an S-ASR, the core content of which was that — once this registration is effective, the stock can be sold immediately.

This path is not wrong, but it naturally brings three problems: the "HODL" mentality of the OG team makes them more focused on the cost-benefit ratio, so once the price surges, it is easy to trigger a unwinding impulse; the information flow under the OG network is more closed-loop and cautious, not inclined to actively play the Narrative card; prioritizing on-chain operations, it actually appears lagging in terms of financial disclosure efficiency, capital market operations, etc.

This is precisely the deep reason why, in the third quarter of 2025, SharpLink appeared to be half a beat slow when facing BitMine's rhythmic "disclosure-funding-addition-surge" strategy.

V God Image Source: coingecko

On the other hand, BitMine almost descended upon the ETH track in the posture of "typical Wall Street capital entry." First, the PIPE financing structure itself is full of financial engineering implications: adopting a cash+warrant+ETH combination subscription structure; participants include mainstream US stock structure investors such as Galaxy Digital, ARK Invest, Founders Fund; chip distribution is transparent, with a lock-up period set, conducive to a stable valuation model.

We can also get a glimpse from the background of its board members — many of them come from investment banks, private equity, hedge funds, familiar with PIPE financing, compliance arbitrage, refinancing cycle operations. In their eyes, ETH is not a "cryptocurrency," but a new type of financial asset that is "priceable, tradable, and cashable."

Between the OG and Wall Street, it's not just a rhythm difference, but a motivation conflict.

This forced Sharplink to start thinking, is OG's ETH alone not enough?

They seemed to have a new answer to this question—starting on August 7, they introduced new Wall Street institutional investors to participate in their $200 million registered private placement.

This is a Ethereum narrative "power transition": moving gradually from the OG's hands to the capital that can explain financial reports, tell a good story, and navigate structures.

The future may not necessarily be dominated only by BitMine, but what can be foreseen is this: the next round of ETH pricing dominance will no longer be decided by the OGs in the crypto community, but by those who control the Narrative structure, who can access more Wall Street funding, and who hold more "narrative chips."

How to Take the ETH Leader Throne in 35 Days?

On July 1, 2025, BitMine's ETH holdings were zero; by August 5, they disclosed holdings of 833,137 ETH. In just 35 days, this company, which previously had no crypto presence in the open market, transitioned from an "unknown" to the "world's largest Ethereum treasury company," surpassing SharpLink.

Let's break down BitMine's moves in detail.

BitMine's timing of actions was extremely precise. During its 35-day surge period, almost every 7 days, there was a rhythmic announcement disclosure, each one progressing the narrative like a scripted play: First week (July 1–July 7): $2.5 billion PIPE financing completed, publicly disclosed the completion of the initial purchase of around 150,000 ETH; Second week (July 8–July 14): Additional purchase of 266,000 ETH, total holdings surpassed 560,000 coins; Third week (July 15–July 21): Added buying of 272,000 ETH, accumulating holdings of over 830,000 coins;

These three rounds of disclosures did not follow the regular updates in quarterly reports but were inserted into the market through media, official websites, investor relations letters, etc., to clearly signal, "We are continuously buying ETH on a large scale, and we are the leader in institutional hodling growth."

This approach subverted the traditional disclosure logic of treasury companies "waiting for the financial results" and instead shifted to a rhythmic, Narrative-driven attack.

More importantly, its accumulation rhythm is highly synchronized with the market trend. BitMine's average buy-in price is not a blind sweep, but it uses the market adjustment window to "follow the rhythm" and buy at low points. According to a PIPE filing, its average ETH buy-in price is $3,491, which conveniently avoided the phase high while also catching ETH in a sensitive range before entering a new uptrend channel.

This precise positioning is not accidental but utilizes Galaxy Digital's full suite of tools, including "OTC structural design + on-chain settlement + custody settlement," allowing it to efficiently absorb large amounts of ETH without causing a drastic price fluctuation.

Simultaneously, BitMine's stock price has explosively grown in sync with its disclosures. Starting from $4 in early July to $41 in early August, representing a growth of over 900%. Its total market cap has soared from less than $200 million to over $30 billion.

Of particular note, after each BitMine holdings update announcement, not only did its stock price rise, but the ETH spot market also saw a synchronous surge in volume. The market began to perceive "BitMine Buy-in – ETH Price Increase" as a set of logically related events, further strengthening the closed-loop Narrative.

This "market expectation – structural disclosure – asset purchase – price feedback" positive cycle is seen by Wall Street as a classic case of market value reshaping. However, it has not only reshaped the company's valuation but also reshaped the market dominance of the ETH treasury through a Narrative approach.

BitMine is no longer just a hodling company; it is evolving into a key hub of the "Ethereum institutional structure." In this process, it does not wait for market recognition but actively "manufactures" recognition through rhythm, disclosure, narrative, structure, and pricing models.

In summary: This is not an "awaiting rise" accumulation but a "forced rise" structure.

From nothing to something, from buying coins to boosting valuation, from disclosure to leading pricing, BitMine has set a "structural rise" template in just 35 days.

And it may well be the earliest financial prototype to emerge in the next Ethereum bull market narrative.

Tom Lee: The New Market Maker Advocate

As the Co-founder and Head of Research at Fundstrat Global Advisors, Tom Lee is one of the most influential figures bridging the gap between the stock market and the crypto market. He understands both macro data and public opinion manipulation. Most importantly, he knows how to talk about "price rises" in a both reasonable and appealing way.

His rise to fame was not based on accurate predictions, but on high frequency, strong narrative, and a strong presence. The popular saying is: "Tom Lee may not always be right, but he always speaks early, speaks loudly, and speaks in a way that you remember."

His most representative tool is the Bitcoin Misery Index (BMI) — a "market sentiment index" designed by himself, which quantifies the market's "misery index" by integrating data such as trading volume, returns, and volatility.

The greatest significance of this index is not in predicting price movements, but in providing "data endorsement" for his bullish calls. For example: when the BMI is extremely low (<27), he will say "This is the bottoming opportunity for long-term holders"; when the BMI is extremely high (>80), he will instead say "This indicates that a structural bull market has arrived"; if the price falls, he will say "Sentiment has not been fully released"; if the price rises, he will say "On-chain structures are repairing."

Regardless of price movements, he always has something to say; no matter the market conditions, he can always make bullish calls.

Tom Lee Image Source: coingape

Tom Lee's "structured bullish calls" style also has several notable features.

Always provide a new price target. He once predicted in 2017 that Bitcoin "will hit $250,000 by 2022," then changed it to "expected to reach $200,000 by 2024" in 2021; when the market performs poorly, he will refer to factors such as halving cycles, inflation adjustments, and Federal Reserve policies to "delay" expectations, while upgrading the logic.

Platform synergy + frequent appearances. He is a regular guest on CNBC's "Fast Money" and a frequent commentator on Bloomberg; his Twitter account (@fundstrat) is updated almost daily, along with synchronized YouTube interviews, using short video summaries and charts to convey his views; he also regularly updates his Fundstrat website with chart-based data summaries for media to reference.

Emotion drives retail investors, narrative drives institutions. Retail investors listen to his bottom calls; institutions listen to his structural talks. He can, within the same model, create psychological expectations suitable for different groups, forming a "multi-layered Narrative nesting." For example, during a sharp price drop, he repeatedly emphasized the "institutional buying window," while also calling on retail investors "not to miss the opportunity to buy in before the halving."

From Predictor to Belief Builder. He not only says "it will rise," he will tell you "the rise is structurally sound," "ETH will become the new anchor of tech stocks," "BTC is the new generation's digital gold." He transforms the "outcome-driven" long calls into an "belief-driven" asset reappraisal.

And in the 2024–2025 Ethereum Narrative construction, Tom Lee once again becomes a key driver. He doesn't just say ETH will rise, but rather says "ETH will become part of the corporate balance sheet," a view that directly provides public opinion support for Narrative-driven operations like BitMine.

During BitMine's rise, we can almost see the deep shadow of Tom Lee's rhetoric logic: measuring fundamentals using "structural indicators" such as ETH-per-share; explaining the rationale for rapid price increases using "cycle logic"; masking aggressive strategies behind high-cost buys with "institutional entry."

Tom Lee is definitely the King of Narrative, relying not on being right, but on being influential.

Epilogue

In traditional financial markets, asset prices are determined by profitability and cash flow; but in today's crypto asset world, price often exists before value, and narrative often drives valuation.

The rise of BitMine is not just a change in the ETH number on the corporate balance sheet, but a narrative reconstruction around "how to make institutions understand ETH." SharpLink adheres to the old logic, slowly accumulating coins on-chain; BitMine, on the other hand, follows the beat of structure and emotion, rapidly completing a "consensus turnover."

This is not a question of who is more honest, but a question of who can more quickly, clearly, and structurally, present "crypto assets" as "financial assets."

And behind this, another round of Narrative race is quietly brewing: who will be the "long-term valuation anchor" for ETH on Wall Street? Who will build the next mainstream model for "ETH-per-share"? Who can turn the liquidity narrative into structural revenue? Who will ultimately become the next dominant player in institutional pricing discourse?

The market will provide the answer. But one thing is certain: this Ethereum Treasury Battle is no longer just a relay baton of on-chain belief.

The price ceiling of Ethereum is no longer owned by the earliest OG long caller, but by the Wall Street capital that tells the best stories.

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