Corporations are accumulating Ether (ETH) at twice the pace of Bitcoin purchases, acquiring 1% of the total ETH supply since early June according to a Standard Chartered report. This institutional shift toward Ethereum—coinciding with its 10th anniversary—has contributed to ETH outperforming Bitcoin, with the ETH/BTC ratio surging from 0.018 in April to 0.032 in July.
Standard Chartered attributes ETH's recent price strength to corporate treasury activity and record inflows into spot Ether ETFs, noting that continued demand could push ETH above its $4,000 year-end forecast despite trading 21% below its November 2021 all-time high of $4,890. The bank projects corporate ETH holdings could grow tenfold to 10% of total supply, citing structural advantages like staking rewards (~3%) and DeFi leverage opportunities unavailable through U.S. ETFs.
Key players include BitMine Immersion Technologies—already holding 0.5% of ETH supply with plans to acquire up to 5%—and newly-formed Ether Machine, which aims to accumulate over 400,000 ETH ($1.5B) for a Nasdaq listing under ticker "ETHM." This trend reflects regulatory arbitrage opportunities and signals a potential long-term institutional portfolio shift toward Ethereum.