 
 
Corporate treasury companies have swiftly amassed 1% of all the Ethereum (ETH) in circulation in just two months as institutional appetite for the second most valuable crypto continues to grow, a Tuesday report from Standard Chartered notes.
The British multinational bank forecasts that ETH strategic reserves could reach 10% of the crypto’s total supply over time, a 10-fold increase from current levels.
Corporations Could Reach 10% Of All ETH
Corporations are purchasing Ether at a faster pace than Bitcoin, indicating a shift in institutional interest toward ETH.
Since the beginning of June, Ethereum treasury firms have acquired 1.26 million, nearly matching the 2 million ETH purchased by spot exchange-traded funds during the same period.
Peter Thiel-backed BitMine Immersion Technologies is currently the biggest Ethereum treasury firm, with a 625,000 ETH cache — equivalent to 0.52% of the total circulating ETH supply. The firm previously unveiled plans to acquire up to 5% of the Ether supply, which, according to Standard Chartered, would entail the purchase of another 6 million Ether tokens.
 
Publicly listed Sharplink Gaming is the second-biggest corporate Ether holder, with a 438,190 Ether stash, after snatching up $290 million worth of ETH in the period between July 21 and 27 at an average price of $3,756.
According to Standard Chartered’s Geoffrey Kendrick, acquiring Ethereum has become increasingly attractive for such institutions due to regulatory inefficiencies and the likelihood of ETH holdings earning staking rewards or having utility in decentralized finance (DeFi) — features that give them a structural advantage over Bitcoin treasuries.
“ETH treasury companies are just getting started; they will likely 10x from here,” Kendrick posited, predicting that such firms could eventually hold 10% of all ETH in circulation. By comparison, Bitcoin treasury companies currently hold approximately 4.4% of the total supply, with Michael Saylor’s Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) alone holding a staggering 3%.
What Does It Mean For The Ether Price?
The price of Ethereum has exceeded BTC in recent weeks, with the ETH/BTC ratio rising from 0.018 in April to 0.032 in July — a trend Kendrick partly attributes to strong buying from the Ether-focused treasury companies and influx of demand for ETH exchange-traded funds.
The banker maintained its Ethereum year-end target of $4,000.
“If the flows can continue, ETH may be able to break above the key $4,000 level (our current end-2025 forecast),” Kendrick quipped.
Ether is currently changing hands at around $3,781.46 at press time, representing a 0.5% drop on the day, according to data.
Source: https://zycrypto.com/ether-treasury-companies-are-just-getting-started-could-ultimately-own-10-of-all-eth-standard-chartered/