ETH Price Nears 2021 Peak As Corporate Holdings Surpass $16B

Ethereum (ETH) price rose sharply on Wednesday, climbing close to its record high from November 2021.

Gains came as public companies and institutional investors expanded their ETH holdings beyond $16 Billion, according to market data.

Corporate Purchases Drive Ethereum Price Surge

Data from strategicethreserve.xyz showed that Ethereum-focused corporate treasuries collectively held about $16.4 Billion in ETH. These companies hold tokens as part of their long-term reserves.

Mohit Kumar, head of markets research at Delta Exchange, said growing optimism toward digital assets and clearer regulatory signals supported the rally.

He cited BitMine Immersion Technologies’ decision to expand its equity issuance capacity as a key factor.

BitMine increased its at-the-market equity program by $20 Billion to a total of $24.5 Billion, including a prior $4.5 Billion authorization.

The company planned to direct most of the proceeds toward purchasing ETH, significantly boosting its reserves.

BitMine’s holdings rose more than 600% over the past month to 1.2 Million ETH, valued around $5.27 Billion at press time. This represented close to 1% of the total ETH supply.

SharpLink Gaming held 598,800 ETH, worth about $2.74 Billion, a 177% increase over 30 days. Ether Machine ranked third with 345,400 ETH, valued near $1.58 Billion, up 8% in the same period.

The Ethereum Foundation, a non-profit overseeing the network’s development, held 232,600 ETH, worth about $1.07 Billion at press time. Other notable holders included PulseChain Sac, Coinbase, and Bit Digital.

Record Corporate Accumulation Supports ETH Price

According to Binance Research, July marked the sharpest monthly increase in corporate Ethereum balances on record. Holdings rose about 127% to more than 2.7 Million ETH, valued around $11.6 Billion at that time.

Analysts said this accumulation reflected Ethereum’s expanding role in decentralized finance (DeFi) and tokenization projects.

DeFi refers to blockchain-based financial services without centralized intermediaries. Tokenization involves creating blockchain-based digital representations of real-world assets.

These developments attracted both traditional financial institutions and crypto-native companies. The buying pressure contributed to pushing the ETH price to its highest level in nearly three years.

The rally in ETH occurred while the Bitcoin price held steady near $120,584 at press time, showing a modest gain of about 5% over the prior week.

The broader cryptocurrency market rose about 1.8%, bringing total market capitalization to roughly $4.1 Trillion.

Outlook for ETH after recent surge

Market analysts said continued institutional inflows and sustained on-chain activity could help maintain momentum.

On-chain activity refers to transactions and usage occurring directly on the Ethereum network.

The focus remained on whether corporate purchases and usage trends could sustain the recent gains. The proximity of the ETH price to its 2021 high was seen as a notable technical level.

At the same time, Bitcoin’s stability suggested broader market conditions were not driving extreme volatility.

Ethereum’s performance appeared linked more directly to corporate accumulation and ecosystem growth than to overall market sentiment.

With July’s record corporate inflows and the scale of BitMine’s commitments, Ethereum’s market position strengthened compared with earlier in the year.

The scale of corporate interest marked a shift in how large entities engaged with Ethereum’s token economics.

Whether this momentum continued depended on the pace of institutional purchases, network activity, and macroeconomic conditions influencing digital asset markets.