Ethereum’s Meteoric Rise: Why This Bull Run Is Just Warming Up

Ethereum isn't just climbing—it's rewriting the playbook. After a 30% surge in two weeks, ETH is flexing its muscles while Wall Street scrambles to keep up. Here's why the smart money says this rally has legs.

Gas fees? Scalability? Old news. The Merge's aftermath has turned Ethereum into a lean, mean, proof-of-stake machine. Developers are shipping upgrades faster than TradFi can say 'regulatory risk.'

Meanwhile, institutional inflows hit $1.2B last quarter—turns out even hedge funds can read an on-chain chart. Though let's be real: half those suits still think ERC-20 is a highway exit.

The kicker? DeFi TVL just pierced $50B again. That's not recovery—it's a full-blown reawakening. With L2s eating Visa's lunch and staking yields outpacing bonds, ETH's flirting with its ATH for a reason.

Bears keep waiting for the pullback. Meanwhile, the blockchain keeps printing blocks. Place your bets—but the house always wins when the house is unstoppable code.

In Brief

• Institutional demand and exchange-traded products (ETPs) fueled $5B capital inflows since mid-May 2025.
• Ethereum treasuries trade at premiums, encouraging Wall Street firms to increase ETH purchases.
• Demand may outpace supply by 7x, with $20B in ETH purchases expected over the coming 12 months, pushing prices higher.

Institutional Demand and ETPs Fuel ETH’s Recent Surge

In his latest memo, Hougan attributed Ethereum’s recent momentum—including a new yearly high of 3,861 reached on July 21—to structural changes. He noted that the latest gains are largely driven by institutional demand, which is now accelerating faster than before.

A large part of Ethereum’s strength appears to come from the improving performance of exchange-traded products (ETPs) linked to the asset. These products were introduced last year but struggled to attract much attention for most of their first year.

That changed in mid-May 2025. From that point, ETH spot funds brought in around $5 billion in fresh capital. This total is roughly double what they had managed to attract across their entire first ten months of trading. The sharp increase in inflows has been a key factor behind Ethereum’s recent growth, reflecting renewed attention from institutional investors.

Big Investors Back Ethereum as a Strategic Treasury Asset

A significant contributor to Ethereum’s rising price is the growing trend of companies incorporating ETH into their treasury reserves. This shift reflects increasing confidence in Ethereum as a strategic asset within corporate finance.

How big players are betting billions on Ethereum

• BitMine Immersion shifted to Ethereum, now holding over 300,000 ETH worth $1 billion+ since June.
• SharpLink Gaming started buying ETH in July and now owns 360,000+ coins valued at over $1 billion.
• Bit Digital sold Bitcoin, raised $170M, and bought 100,000+ ETH worth $375 million by the end of June.
• Bit Digital raised an extra $67.3M in mid-July, adding nearly 20,000 ETH to reach 120,000 total.

Hougan expects the trend to accelerate as demand for stablecoins and tokenized assets continues to build. With many of these developments built on Ethereum’s framework—and with the GENIUS Act now in place—he sees rising capital flowing into the asset as a likely outcome.

Ethereum Treasury Adoption Set to Ignite Major Price Surge

Ethereum-focused treasury adoption is expanding rapidly. Hougan pointed out that the growth of crypto treasury companies hinges on their stock trading at a premium to the value of their crypto assets. Currently, this condition holds true for Ethereum-focused firms, which encourages further investment and expansion.

The key to growth for crypto treasury companies is whether their public stock trades at a premium to the value of the crypto assets they hold, and right now that’s true for ETH treasury companies. For instance, both BMNR and SBET trade at nearly 2x the value of their ETH holdings. As long as that remains true, you can bet Wall Street firms will funnel money into more ETH purchases.

Hougan believes Ethereum treasuries and related investment products could absorb up to $20 billion in ETH over the next year. Meanwhile, only around 800,000 ETH is expected to be created during that time. With demand far outpacing supply, Hougan sees this as a clear signal that Ethereum’s price could climb further.

Crypto analyst David_kml shares a similar view, noting that Ethereum’s current momentum and adoption trends could push its value much higher. He sees $10,000 as a realistic long-term target, based on the way the market is shaping up.

Ethereum has edged higher, gaining over 3% in the past 24 hours to trade around $3,700. Its upward trend remains intact, supported by ongoing institutional interest, limited new supply, and a growing presence in decentralized finance. If these drivers hold steady, ETH could continue to see moderate gains in the NEAR term.

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