Ethereum treasury trade unwinds 80% as handful of whales dominate buys

Corporate Ether acquisitions continue to decline, leaving the worlds largest corporate ETH holder to scoop up billions in Ether, aiming to amass 5% of the total supply.

The Ethereum treasury trade appears to be unwinding as monthly acquisitions continue to decline since the August high, though the largest players continue to scoop up billions of the Ether supply.

Investments from Ethereum digital asset treasuries (DATs) fell 81% in the past three months, from 1.97 million Ether (ETH) in August to 370,000 ETH in November, according to Bitwise, an asset management firm.

“ETH DAT bear continues,” wrote Max Shennon, senior research associate at Bitwise, in a Tuesday X post.

Despite the slowdown, some companies with stronger financial backgrounds continue to accumulate the worlds second-largest cryptocurrency or raise funds for future purchases.

Source: Max Shennon

Related: Ethereum ICO whale cashes out $60M after 9,500x gain as top 1% keep buying ETH

BitMine pushes toward 5% of ETH supply

BitMine Immersion Technologies, the largest corporate Ether holder, accumulated about 679,000 Ether worth $2.13 billion over the past month, completing 62% of its target to accumulate 5% of the ETH supply, according to data from the Strategicethreserve.

BitMine holds an additional $882 million worth of cash according to the data aggregator, which may signal more incoming Ether accumulation.

Top corporate Ether holders. Source: Strategicethreserve.xyz

Related: Bitcoin now settles Visa-scale volumes, but most is for wholesale, not coffee

Earlier in November, Republic Technologies (previously Beyond Medical Technologies) raised $100 million through a convertible note offering for future Ether acquisitions.

The financing round presented unusual terms for DATs, as it offered a 0% interest rate, no ongoing interest payments for investors and no requirements to post collateral if Ethers price falls.

The lack of interest payments means that Republic doesn‘t have to spend cash to service its debt and can’t default on interest payments, which is a common issue for some digital asset companies.

Meanwhile, crypto treasury stocks saw a recovery on Tuesday, as Ether-focused DATs led the gains, including Nasdaq-listed EthZilla (ETHZ), which gained 12.35% on the day, while BitMines shares rose 10.26%, according to Google Finance.