BitMine and Whale Snap Up $882M in ETH, Signaling Institutional Confidence

Highlights:

• BitMine bought 135,135 ETH worth $600 million, boosting total holdings to $5.75 billion.
• An unknown whale purchased 92,899 ETH, which shows a strong long-term accumulation strategy underway.
• Ethereum ETFs hit record volumes and reflect continued institutional demand despite recent market pullbacks.

BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR), a publicly traded Ethereum-focused company, bought 106,485 ETH worth $470.5 million in only ten hours. The deals show that BitMine bought most of the ETH through big over-the-counter (OTC) trades and direct transfers from major institutional platforms like Galaxy Digital, FalconX, and BitGo. After this purchase, BitMine’s total Ether holdings have grown to 1.297 million ETH, now valued at $5.75 billion.

While most are panic-selling $ETH, institutions keep buying.

Bitmine(@BitMNR) has bought another 106,485 $ETH($470.51M) in the past 10 hours, bringing its holdings to 1,297,093 $ETH($5.75B)!https://t.co/DSIXMpvJYp https://t.co/uzfjhOSF5Q pic.twitter.com/arq8udcEmd

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) August 16, 2025

BitMine Shifts to Ethereum Treasury, Whale Accumulations Surge

The company seems to be changing its business model, moving from just mining ETH to holding it as a key treasury asset, similar to Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy with Bitcoin. MicroStrategy owns $77.2 billion in 628,946 BTC, ranking it among the top 100 public Bitcoin treasury holders. Continuing the buying momentum, an unknown whale has quietly purchased 92,899 ETH, worth about $412 million, over the last four days. The buyer created three new wallets before moving the funds from Kraken, indicating a planned long-term storage approach.

Aside from #Bitmine, another mysterious institution has been buying $ETH.

Over the past 4 days, the mysterious institution created 3 new wallets and withdrew 92,899 $ETH($412M) from #Kraken.https://t.co/v7DWdOWlCShttps://t.co/ZN1q300qKShttps://t.co/V1FoJbfR5h pic.twitter.com/sX96HRqGa4

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) August 16, 2025

BitMine Immersion Technologies is boosting its corporate move into Ethereum treasuries by raising $24.5 billion through an at-the-market (ATM) stock offering. SharpLink has also recently completed a $389 million capital raise through common shares. Large crypto holders, often called whales, have also stepped up Ether accumulation. A newly discovered buyer purchased $1.3 billion in Ether this week using 10 new wallets, beating Monday’s $1 billion ETF record.

In addition, Standard Chartered has increased its 2025 Ether price forecast from $4,000 to $7,500, citing stronger institutional accumulation and faster stablecoin adoption after recent US regulatory changes. The bank’s updated long-term projections put ETH at $12,000 in 2026, $18,000 in 2027, and $25,000 by 2028.

STANDARD CHARTERED RAISES ETHEREUM PRICE TARGETS

Standard Chartered now expects ETH to surpass its November 2021 all-time high of $4,866 by Q3 2025, reaching $7,500 by year-end (up from a $4,000 forecast). The bank projects $12,000 in 2026, $18,000 in 2027, and $25,000 in…

— *Walter Bloomberg (@DeItaone) August 13, 2025

Ethereum, Bitcoin Dip While ETFs See Record Activity

After Ethereum nearly reached its $4,878 all-time high last week, it pulled back to about $4,448. On-chain data shows a clear difference in behavior, with retail panicking while institutions quietly accumulate. Both BTC and ETH cooled off following last week’s highs. Bitcoin dropped roughly 5% from its new ATH above $124,400 to around $117,000. This caused the overall crypto market to show red indexes on Saturday morning and fall below the $4 trillion mark. Its 24-hour trading volume also dropped 32% to $180 billion.

Despite recent pullbacks, spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs reached record weekly trading volumes. Renewed institutional demand for Ethereum pushed total trading activity close to $40 billion over the past five days. In the last week, Ethereum ETFs recorded an unprecedented trading volume of about $17 billion. If this strong demand continues over the next two weeks, it could exceed last month’s total net inflow of roughly $5.43 billion.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin ETFs showed steady growth, with weekly net inflows rising to around $561 million, up from $246 million the previous week. ETF analyst Eric Balchunas stated that “Biggest week ever for them, thanks to Ether ETFs stepping up big.” 

Spot Bitcoin + Ether ETFs did about $40b in volume this week, biggest week ever for them, thanks to Ether ETFs stepping up big. Massive number, equiv to a Top 5 ETF or Top 10 stock's volume. pic.twitter.com/Z89uV63A3w

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) August 15, 2025