Institutions Are Buying ETH – But ETH Doesn’t Want to Move

Institutions and whales are buying ETH. We know this because in a blockchain world where everything is visible onchain, there’s no hiding your intent. The past fortnight has seen the likes of Matrixport and Abraxas Capital moving hundreds of millions of dollars of the stuff, while SharpLink Gaming has also been adding to its $500M ETH stack.

Yet despite this flurry of big buys and major moves, ETH has barely budged. It’s up just 3% in the past month, and still down 15% over the past 12 months. BTC, in comparison, is up 88% over the same period. 

Andrei Grachev, Managing Partner DWF Labs, said, “We do see Bitcoin maturing as a long‑term reserve asset. Public and private investors have acquired over 157,000 BTC ($16 billion) this year alone, while corporate Bitcoin treasuries like MicroStrategy now hold over 582,000 BTC ($62 billion in value). Also, forecasts estimate $120 billion in institutional Bitcoin inflows by year‑end and up to $300 billion in 2026. What does this show us? While stablecoins serve as short-duration rails, Bitcoin serves as the long-duration hedge.” 

If ETH is in an accumulation phase, it’s a multi-year one that’s resulted in the blue-chip failing to make a meaningful assault on $3K. Is this the calm before the storm that will see ETH finally break out, or will the institutional inflows fail to budge the world’s most stubborn cryptocurrency?

Institutions Fill the Bag With ‘Stablecoin’ ETH

ETH’s refusal to meaningfully move over the last 12 months has caused critics to deride it as a “stablecoin.” The reasons for ETH’s sluggish performance, while other top 10 assets have rocketed, can be attributed to a range of factors, from the slow pace of Ethereum’s scaling roadmap to the rise of faster smart contract chains such as Solana, Sui, and TON that have stolen market share from it.

But while ETH may be a sleeping giant, it’s still a formidable foe. Its liquidity, institutional accessibility, staking solutions, unrivaled developer community, and family of EVM chains that draw their security from it mean ETH remains a compelling investment. It’s just one that’s taking time to pay dividends for its patient holders.

ETFs Turn Their Attention to ETH

For the past 12 months, institutions and the vast funds they manage have had eyes for one asset only: BTC. ETF demand for ETH, in comparison, has been surprisingly low – but in recent weeks that’s started to change. Cumulative spot Ethereum ETF flows are now approaching $93B, and since late June have been driven up by Fidelity Ethereum Fund (FETH) and iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA) in particular.

Grachev says, “The persistence of Ether inflows, especially through ETPs, shows investors are aligning with Ethereum’s role as programmable infrastructure,” he explains. “This is not just about price action: it’s about the architecture behind stable assets, staking, and tokenized value flows.”

“When capital flows in during a down week, it is a clear sign that institutions are allocating on structure, not sentiment. ETPs are providing the kind of access and liquidity these investors need, and they are becoming a central part of how capital interacts with crypto.” Given that staking has been a cornerstone of Ethereum DeFi for years now, while tokenization of diverse assets has been expanding steadily, yet hardly parabolically, it begs a simple question: why now?

The Bull Case for ETH

There are a number of reasons why ETH may finally be in vogue, having been left on the shelf for so long as everyone loaded up on BTC. One thesis is that the renewed sense of urgency among Ethereum core developers, who are intent on accelerating its scaling roadmap, has resonated with investors. With everyone from Vitalik to unsung solo devs now singing from the same hymn sheet, there’s a sense that Ethereum is back on track. That’s not to say they’re all in agreement on how Eth should be scaled – but there’s no one arguing that it needs to happen soon for everyone’s sake.

One of the most intriguing and controversial proposals is the idea of halving Ethereum’s block times, slashing them from 12 seconds to six. The EIP submitted by core dev Barnabé Monnot would be a shortcut to processing more network transactions, but it’s not without its complications, not least in terms of the increased demands it would make on validators and other infra providers.

It would be a gross over-simplification to assert that institutions are buying ETH just because an EIP that may or may not happen and which is at least six months away has taken their fancy. But it’s fair to assert that there are finally signs of life on Ethereum, both at the developer level and the investment level. The question now on everyone’s lips is whether this movement will translate into chart action, or is ETH destined to continue sleeping as the crypto bull market rages on?

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