Standard Chartered Reveals: Ethereum Treasury Firms Outperform ETH ETFs—Here’s Why

Forget the hype—Wall Street's latest crypto darling isn't living up to its promise. Standard Chartered's bombshell analysis shows Ethereum treasury firms crushing ETH ETFs in 2025's cutthroat market.

The Naked Truth About Institutional Crypto Plays

While retail investors chase ETF approval headlines, smart money's stacking ETH through treasury vehicles that bypass middlemen—and their fees. No synthetic exposure, no custodial bottlenecks, just direct blockchain access that's delivering alpha while ETF investors ride the volatility rollercoaster.

Why Bureaucracy Loses to Blockchain

Three words: operational efficiency. Treasury firms cut settlement times from days to minutes, slash counterparty risk, and—here's the kicker—actually own their assets instead of paper promises. Meanwhile, ETF issuers are still figuring out how to explain staking yields to compliance departments.

One banking insider quipped: 'ETFs let traditional finance pretend they understand DeFi without actually touching it.' Ouch.

As the SEC drags its feet on new approvals, treasury solutions are eating ETFs' lunch—proving once again that in crypto, the real innovation happens outside the system.

Key Takeaways

Standard Chartered stated that the treasury stocks were ‘investable’ and better than ETH ETFs, citing staking yield opportunities. Tom Lee’s bold prediction was that ETH could tag $9K-$16K. 

The ethereum [ETH] treasury trend continues to win the confidence of institutional players.

In its latest note to clients, Standard Chartered’s global head of digital assets research, Geoff Kendrick, said that treasury firms are ‘more investable’ now than ETFs, citing their additional yield potential. 

Treasury firms also engage in staking, which currently offers 3% in annual rewards and other DeFi yield strategies. However, ETH ETFs are currently passive players, unless staking is approved later on.  

In fact, Kendrick highlighted that treasury firms now own 1.6% of the ETH supply, similar to ETH ETF products, since June. 

Source: Standard Chartered

However, the bank maintained a $4K price target for the altcoin by the end of the year. 

Tom Lee: ETH is having its BTC 2017 moment

Tom Lee, the chair of the world’s largest ETH treasury, BitMine, and FundStrat’s CEO, made a bold price prediction for the altcoin.

In a recent CNBC interview, Lee stated that ETH was having its 2017 Bitcoin [BTC] moment and the altcoin could hit $16K.  

“If the ETH/BTC ratio goes back to the 2021 high of 0.14, that WOULD value ETH at $16K. It makes sense because ETH is a better storage of value than it was in 2021.” 

For perspective, the ETH/BTC ratio is an indicator that tracks the relative price performance of the altcoin against BTC. In 2021, it peaked at 0.08, and in 2017, it jumped to over 0.14. 

Based on the current market price values, going to 2021 levels would imply a $9.5K per ETH, while extending to 2017 highs of 0.14 would mean a $16K, as suggested by Lee. 

Source: ETH/BTC ratio, TradingView

The ETH treasury picked up momentum in June 2025, giving the altcoin a new demand avenue. This made it rival BTC, which enjoyed strong bidding from the likes of Strategy (MicroStrategy) and Metaplanet. 

Notably, the cumulative ETH held by public companies has soared from 47K ETH to 826K ETH — an 18x growth in less than three months. 

Source: The Block 

While acknowledging the debt leverage risks of treasury firms, MEXC’s chief analyst, Shawn Young, told AMBcrypto that the trend will set the benchmark for the future.

“The public disclosure of these holdings is setting a new benchmark. Companies that are incorporating digital assets now may help define the new corporate standard over the next few years.”

That said, the overall capital inflows into ETH remained resilient despite sharp declines for BTC and SOL, noted Glassnode. 

This suggested that relatively strong institutional interest in the altcoin could give it a lead in recovery if market sentiment improves.

ETH was valued at $3.7K at press time, up 2.8% in the past 24 hours. BitMine’s BMNR jumped 15.6% and BlackRock’s ETHA rallied 3%, indicating that BMNR outperformed the ETF in the past few hours. 

Source: Glassnode