Who are the top players in Ethereum?

2025-07-24 16:41:51

Collection

Which players have already positioned themselves or are currently laying out plans on the road to Ethereum's surge?

Written by: KarenZ, Foresight News

Ethereum has recently shown strong performance, achieving four consecutive weekly gains, with the price breaking through $3,800, setting a new interim high.

Currently, the market's buying power is surging, with institutions, listed companies, and whales continuously increasing their holdings of ETH, even leading to a tight liquidity situation in the over-the-counter market. On July 17, Wintermute co-founder Evgeny Gaevoy revealed that "there are almost no ETH available for sale on the Wintermute OTC desk," highlighting the tight supply and demand in the market.

This phenomenon indicates that the demand for ETH far exceeds the supply. If this trend continues, the price of ETH may see further increases. So, if Ethereum really rises to $10,000, which groups will become direct beneficiaries?

Large ETH holders and validators: Whales, institutions, funds, listed companies, and project parties holding ETH will see significant appreciation in their reserves.
Exchanges and custodians and OTC: Trading activity will surge, leading to skyrocketing fee income.
Ethereum spot ETF issuers and holders.
DeFi ecosystem: Core sectors such as (re)staking protocols, DEXs, lending protocols, etc.
Layer 2: This could drive up the adoption rate of Layer 2 solutions, with potential growth in token value and trading income.
Infrastructure: Ecosystem cornerstones like wallets and node service providers will see dual appreciation in business volume and income as the user base expands.
NFT market: Under the influence of market enthusiasm, the NFT market may welcome a new round of speculation.

This article will summarize the listed companies, exchanges (holding their own ETH), and Web3 project parties (holding more than 1,000 ETH) that view Ethereum as a strategic reserve or hold Ethereum, based on data from Strategic ETH Reserve, publicly available data from companies and project parties, and the Arkham platform.

Listed Companies

SharpLink Gaming

NASDAQ-listed SharpLink Gaming is an online performance marketing company focused on the U.S. sports betting and global iGaming industry, providing traffic guidance, player acquisition, retention, and conversion services for global sports betting and iGaming operators through its PAS.net platform.

On May 27, 2025, SharpLink Gaming announced a major strategic initiative, reaching a $425 million financing agreement through a private equity investment (PIPE) aimed at advancing its Ethereum financial strategy. The lead investor in this transaction is Ethereum infrastructure development company Consensys Software Inc., with a strong lineup of co-investors including ParaFi Capital, Electric Capital, Pantera Capital, Arrington Capital, Galaxy Digital, Ondo, White Star Capital, GSR, Hivemind Capital, Hypersphere, Primitive Ventures, and Republic Digital. Ethereum co-founder and Consensys CEO Joseph Lubin serves as the chairman of SharpLink Gaming's board.

SharpLink Gaming's strategic transformation is a comprehensive result of its core business challenges reflected in its 2024 financial data, changes in industry trends, and the company's proactive search for growth breakthroughs.

After launching its Ethereum treasury strategy, SharpLink Gaming has continued to purchase Ethereum through Galaxy Digital and Coinbase Prime, even directly acquiring 10,000 ETH from the Ethereum Foundation. As of July 20, 2025, SharpLink Gaming's ETH holdings reached 360,807 ETH, surpassing the Ethereum Foundation to become the world's largest corporate holder of ETH.

According to SharpLink Gaming, as of July 11, 2025, the company has allocated 99.7% of its ETH holdings to staking protocols, aiming to maximize ETH capital returns.

Notably, SharpLink recently launched a proprietary metric called "ETH Concentration," designed to measure the company's ETH exposure relative to its capital structure, calculated as: total ETH held ÷ 1,000 shares of assumed diluted circulating shares.

BitMine

BitMine was originally a company focused on Bitcoin mining and infrastructure. On June 30, 2025, it announced the completion of a $250 million private financing and plans to launch an Ethereum treasury strategy, aiming to become one of the largest publicly listed companies holding ETH.

The $250 million transaction was led by MOZAYYX, with participation from Founders Fund, Pantera, FalconX, Republic Digital, Kraken, Galaxy Digital, DCG, Diametric Capital, Occam Crest Management, and Thomas Lee. Notably, renowned Wall Street strategist and co-founder of Fundstrat Global Advisors, Thomas Lee, will also join the BitMine board as chairman.

It is worth emphasizing that in mid-July, according to a filing with the SEC, PayPal co-founder and Silicon Valley venture capital pioneer Peter Thiel acquired a 9.1% stake in BitMine Immersion Technologies. BitMine disclosed that as of July 17, it holds 300,657 ETH.

In late July, several funds under Cathie Wood's Ark Invest purchased $182 million worth of BitMine common stock (BMNR). BitMine expects to use 100% of its net proceeds ($177 million) to purchase ETH.

Coinbase

According to Ryan Sean Adams, co-founder of Bankless, Coinbase purchased 21,634 ETH as its reserves in the first quarter of 2025, with total ETH holdings nearing 140,000. According to Strategic ETH Reserve data, Coinbase's Ethereum holdings amount to 137,334 ETH.

Bit Digital

Bit Digital traces its origins back to Golden Bull Limited. Golden Bull was established in Shanghai in November 2015, focusing on auto pawn loans. It went public on NASDAQ in March 2018 under the ticker "DNJR," claiming to be "the first Chinese auto loan stock."

However, the good times did not last long. In 2019, as the domestic P2P industry faced a crisis and regulatory cleanup, Golden Bull was investigated by the Shanghai Public Security Bureau for allegedly illegally absorbing public deposits. After the collapse of its P2P business, Golden Bull gradually transitioned to auto leasing and Bitcoin mining. Starting at the end of 2022, Bit Digital began to reduce its reliance on single Bitcoin mining and initiated a diversified layout.

In early July 2025, Bit Digital announced the completion of its transition to an Ethereum treasury management strategy and recently raised approximately $172 million in total revenue, using net capital to purchase Ethereum. Additionally, Bit Digital sold approximately 280 Bitcoins and used the proceeds to increase its ETH holdings. As of July 18, Bit Digital's total Ethereum holdings were approximately 120,306 ETH.

BTCS Inc.

BTCS Inc. (NASDAQ: BTCS) is a blockchain infrastructure technology company based in the United States. As of July 21, 2025, BTCS Inc.'s total ETH holdings reached 55,788 ETH. BTCS was also included in the Russell Microcap Index on July 16.

GameSquare

GameSquare Holdings, Inc. is a NASDAQ-listed media, entertainment, and technology company that launched its Ethereum fund management strategy in July 2025, purchasing its first Ethereum for $5 million (1,818.84 ETH) at an average price of $2,749. On July 17, GameSquare announced it raised $70 million through a stock offering, intending to use most of the proceeds to increase its Ethereum holdings. On July 22, GameSquare announced it recently purchased approximately 8,351 ETH at a weighted average price of about $3,592, bringing its total ETH holdings to 10,169 ETH.

Intchains Group

Intchains Group is a NASDAQ-listed company focused on altcoin mining products and ETH holdings. According to Intchains Group's official website, as of the end of the first quarter of 2025, Intchains Group held 7,023 ETH at an average cost of $2,846.

KR1 plc

KR1 plc was established in March 2016 and is a digital asset company focused on decentralized technology, listed on the London Aquis Stock Exchange. KR1 plc primarily focuses on staking activities on PoS networks. According to its financial report for the period ending May 31, 2025, KR1 plc holds DOT (£16.54 million), TIA (£12.28 million), stETH (£10.39 million), LDO (£7.26 million), ATOM (£6.88 million), RED (£6.80 million), and others.

According to Strategic ETH Reserve data, KR1 plc holds 5,505 ETH.

Exodus

The U.S.-listed self-custody wallet company Exodus currently holds 2,550 ETH.

Thumzup

NASDAQ-listed Thumzup Media Corporation is a digital marketing and financial innovation company. On July 17, Thumzup announced that its board had authorized the company to hold up to $250 million in cryptocurrencies, including BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, DOGE, LTC, and stablecoin USDC.

The Ether Machine

On July 21, blank check company Dynamix announced it is preparing to merge with another entity to form a new company called "The Ether Machine." The merged company plans to hold over $1.5 billion in ETH, with co-founder and chairman Andrew Keys investing approximately $645 million (equivalent to 169,984 ETH) at the inception.

Exchanges

Coinbase

As previously mentioned, according to Ryan Sean Adams, co-founder of Bankless, Coinbase purchased 21,634 ETH as its reserves in the first quarter of 2025, with total ETH holdings nearing 140,000. According to Strategic ETH Reserve data, Coinbase's Ethereum holdings amount to 137,334 ETH.

Gate

According to Gate's proof of reserves, as of July 11, its reserve ratios for BTC, ETH, USDT, and USDC are 144.40%, 123.71%, and 116.23%, respectively. This means that Gate platform holds 7,004.59 BTC and 76,748.50 ETH.

Bitget

According to Bitget's proof of reserves, its reserve ratios for BTC, ETH, USDT, and USDC are 429%, 148%, 108%, and 270%, respectively, meaning that Bitget platform holds 21,692.73 BTC, 71,163.41 ETH, 136,219,892 USDT, and 87,440,015 USDC.

Bybit

According to Bybit's proof of reserves, as of June 19, its reserve ratios for BTC and ETH (Bybit wallet assets / Bybit user assets) are 107% and 103%, with self-owned BTC at 3,813 and self-owned ETH at 21,566.

OKX

According to OKX's proof of reserves, as of June 14, 2025, its reserve ratios for BTC, ETH, USDT, and USDC are 105%, 101%, 102%, and 101%, respectively, with the platform holding 6,307 BTC and 20,014 ETH.

Deribit

According to Deribit's proof of reserves, its ETH reserve ratio is 106.44%, and STETH's reserve ratio is 130.54%. Deribit holds 14,073.35 ETH and 3,846 STETH.

KuCoin

According to KuCoin's proof of reserves, as of June 30, 2025, its reserve ratios for BTC, ETH, USDT, and USDC are 110%, 110%, 114%, and 112%, respectively, meaning that KuCoin platform holds 920.6 BTC, 13,198 ETH, 159,987,359 USDT, and 9,955,366 USDC.

BingX

According to BingX's proof of reserves, its reserve ratios for BTC, ETH, USDT, and USDC are 135.16%, 137.27%, 141.36%, and 144.53%. The BingX wallet address holds 10,804.28 ETH, and based on a reserve ratio of 137.27%, BingX platform's self-owned ETH assets amount to 2,934.74 ETH.

Phemex

Phemex's proof of reserves data shows that its reserve ratios for BTC and ETH are 113.71% and 134.26%, with self-owned BTC at 242.72 and self-owned ETH at 2,838.729.

HTX

According to HTX's proof of reserves, its reserve ratios for BTC and ETH are 101% and 100%, respectively. HTX holds 1,160 ETH.

BitMEX

BitMEX's proof of reserves data shows that its reserve ratios for BTC and ETH are 379% and 142%, with self-owned BTC at 36,788.19 and self-owned ETH at 815.

Binance

Binance's proof of reserves released in early July shows that the platform's BTC reserve ratio reached 102.51%, ETH reserve ratio is 100.00%, BNB reserve ratio is 111.79%, SOL reserve ratio is 100.03%, USDC reserve ratio is 152.65%, USDT reserve ratio is 101.11%, and FDUSD reserve ratio is 108.71%. This means that excluding customer-held assets, Binance platform holds 14,388 BTC, virtually 0 ETH, 4,673,128 BNB, and nearly 2.96 billion USDC.

Others

In addition, Bitfinex's publicly available wallet list on GitHub from three years ago shows that Bitfinex and Tether's parent company iFinex Inc. hold 204,338 BTC, 2,018.5 L-BTC (on Liquid), 1,000 BTC on the Lightning Network, and 1,225,600 ETH. Currently, their three Ethereum addresses hold a total of 446,045.20 ETH.

Arkham data shows that Bitfinex entity holds a total of 963,000 ETH (including customer assets), and Robinhood holds 1.492 million ETH (including customer assets). The reserve ratios for Bitfinex and Robinhood are currently unclear.

Crypto.com’s official proof of reserves data as of December 7, 2022, shows BTC and ETH reserve ratios of 102% and 101%, respectively. No updated proof data has been found.

The Lithuanian cryptocurrency exchange BTCC Exchange's proof of reserves shows that as of July 15, the platform's BTC and ETH reserve ratios are 120% and 170%, respectively. However, BTCC Exchange has not disclosed specific customer asset and holding data.

Projects

Ethereum Foundation

A report released by the Ethereum Foundation in November 2024 shows that as of October 31, 2024, the total amount of the Ethereum Foundation's treasury is approximately $970.2 million, including $788.7 million in cryptocurrency assets and $181.5 million in non-cryptocurrency investments and assets. Of the cryptocurrency assets held by the Ethereum Foundation, 99.45% is ETH, which accounts for 0.26% of the total ETH supply as of October 31, 2024.

The Ethereum Foundation stated at the time, "The reason for choosing the majority of treasury assets to be ETH is due to our belief in Ethereum's potential."

According to the Ethereum Foundation's treasury policy disclosed on June 5, 2025, the foundation will regularly calculate the deviation of fiat-denominated assets in the treasury from the operational expenditure buffer ("B") target and determine whether to sell ETH and the amount to sell in the next three months.

According to Strategic ETH Reserve data, the Ethereum Foundation currently holds 238,500 ETH.

PulseChain

PulseChain is an Ethereum fork that went live in May 2023. Founder Richard Heart is a controversial figure in the cryptocurrency space, attracting attention with aggressive marketing tactics and high return promises, having previously built the HEX project in 2019.

In July 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued PulseChain, PulseX, and HEX founder Richard Heart for allegedly selling unregistered securities, claiming that their actions raised over $1 billion through unregistered securities offerings and sales, violating federal securities laws, and alleging that Richard Heart misappropriated funds for personal luxury expenses. However, in March 2025, Reuters reported that a U.S. judge dismissed the SEC's fraud lawsuit against the HEX founder.

In the first week of March 2024, the PulseChain Sacrifice wallet had completely converted over $640 million worth of DAI into 170,683 ETH, at an average price of $3,768 per ETH. However, Strategic ETH Reserve data shows that PulseChain's Ethereum holdings amount to 166,300 ETH.

WLFI

On July 18, according to Lookonchain monitoring, the Trump family's crypto project WLFI spent another 3 million USDC to purchase 861 ETH. Currently, it has accumulated a total of 70,143 ETH, at an average price of $3,249.

Golem Foundation

Golem Network is an open-source, decentralized computing platform that raised 820,000 ETH through an ICO in 2016. Currently, it holds 10,284 ETH in its Golem: Multisig address. However, Strategic ETH Reserve data shows that Golem Network holds 101,300 ETH.

Gnosis DAO

Founded in 2015, Gnosis is dedicated to building Ethereum ecosystem applications and key infrastructure, including Safe and Cow protocols. Gnosis's ETH holdings reported to Strategic ETH Reserve amount to 66,600 ETH, approximately $210 million. However, Gnosis's official treasury data shows that the total treasury funds amount to $411 million, with Ethereum accounting for nearly 30% (approximately $120 million).

Lido DAO

As a leading LST protocol in the Ethereum ecosystem, Lido DAO joined the Strategic ETH Reserve list on April 15, holding 32,248 ETH at that time. Currently, its Ethereum reserves amount to 35,700 ETH.

ENS

According to ENS's financial report from June 2025, it currently has $150 million in reserves, including $117.6 million in ETH and $32.1 million in USDC, with an operational runway of 111 months. The report also shows that the ENS Endowment Fund had $94.6 million in assets at that time, including $24.3 million in stablecoins and $70.3 million in ETH.

As of the time of writing, the ENS Endowment Fund address holds $120 million in assets, including $24.34 million in stablecoins and 27,940 ETH ($95 million). The ETH holdings reported in the Strategic ETH Reserve amount to 28,600 ETH.

The concept of the ENS Endowment was first proposed by Nick.eth in March 2022 in the governance forum, aiming to reserve a significant amount of funds and registration fee income from the DAO treasury to create a sustainable funding source to indefinitely support the development of ENS. This would enable the DAO to continue operating and funding the ongoing development of ENS even under unfavorable market conditions. The DAO voted in favor of an initial fund of 16,000 ETH for the foundation.

Frax Finance

In December 2024, Frax Finance stated that Frax is creating a cryptocurrency strategic reserve, investing its revenue in two major cryptocurrencies: BTC and ETH. Frax reported an ETH reserve of 23,210 ETH to Strategic ETH Reserve in July.

Arbitrum DAO

According to the Dune dashboard created by @EntropyAdvisors, as of July 15, Arbitrum DAO holds a total of 21,889 ETH, with 8,782 ETH held in the treasury.

Status

Status builds wallets, decentralized messaging, cross-chain exchanges, and L2 infrastructure. Strategic ETH Reserve data shows that Status currently holds 19,700 ETH.

Optimism

The Optimism Foundation proactively reported to Strategic ETH Reserve on July 17, 2025, that it holds 18,436 ETH.

Request Network

Request Network is a protocol for creating payment requests and coordinating payments. In July 2025, Request Network disclosed that it holds 13,319 ETH in Strategic ETH Reserve.

Zentry

Zentry is the original chain gaming guild GuildFi. Since 2021, Zentry has held ETH in each major cycle and rebalanced as needed. Zentry considers Ethereum to be a more productive and versatile reserve asset. In June 2025, it disclosed holding 12,128 ETH in Strategic ETH Reserve.

Onchain Foundation

Onchain Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the adoption and implementation of blockchain-based applications. Originally named the "Lisk Foundation," the project raised 14,000 BTC in 2016 to build a blockchain software development toolkit for JavaScript developers and create a platform composed of "blockchain networks" (also known as sidechains). In 2023, the project completed its repositioning. In early 2024, Lisk became the first Layer 1 blockchain to successfully migrate to Ethereum Layer 2 rollup.

Onchain Foundation disclosed that it holds 10,220 ETH in Strategic ETH Reserve.

ETH Strategy

ETH Strategy is a self-financing protocol within the Ethereum ecosystem. By utilizing long-term convertible bonds, ETH Strategy allows participants to collateralize assets to obtain convertible notes in exchange for leveraged ETH exposure with downside protection. The core goals of ETH Strategy are to accumulate the largest ETH treasury, continuously grow EPS (earnings per STRAT ETH), and establish new on-chain volatility trading.

On July 11, ETH Strategy announced it raised 6,900 ETH through a presale, and in the following days, Canadian listed company Moss Genomics invested 200 ETH, committing to invest an additional 800 ETH in the STRAT presale. The total fundraising for ETH Strategy amounts to 7,900 ETH.

Aave

Aave joined the Strategic ETH Reserve list in mid-April 2025, currently holding 6,251 ETH.

Kleros

Kleros is a decentralized arbitration protocol for on-chain economic disputes. Kleros raised 5,794 ETH in its first token sale in July 2018 and 77.9 million ETH in its second token sale in January 2020. Strategic ETH Reserve data shows that Kleros currently holds 4,500 ETH.

API3 DAO

Strategic ETH Reserve data shows that the oracle project API3 DAO holds 3,758 ETH.

Nouns

Nouns DAO is an NFT project that generates and auctions one NFT daily. 100% of the auction proceeds (ETH) are automatically deposited into the Nouns DAO treasury, managed by Nouns owners. The Nouns DAO treasury once held nearly 30,000 ETH, but this amount has significantly decreased due to forks and expenditures. The Nouns official website currently shows that its treasury holds 3,461 ETH.

BrainDAO

Brain DAO is a governance DAO that powers the IQ ecosystem. The IQ token supports the knowledge ecosystem, including the cryptocurrency and blockchain encyclopedia IQ.wiki. Strategic ETH Reserve data shows that Brain DAO currently holds 3,300 ETH.

Gitcoin

Gitcoin is a decentralized collaboration platform based on the Ethereum network, aimed at supporting the development of open-source projects and the Web3 ecosystem. When Gitcoin was listed in the Strategic ETH Reserve on June 3, it held 1,858 ETH and currently holds approximately 3,000 ETH.

Axie Infinity

On June 26, Axie Infinity joined the Strategic ETH Reserve list, indicating it holds 2,618 ETH, which is part of the Axie Infinity Treasury.

Fluid

Fluid joined the Strategic ETH Reserve list in April 2024, at that time holding 1,000 ETH, and currently holds approximately 2,500 ETH.

UNCX Network

UNCX Network (formerly UniCrypt) is a decentralized multi-chain service provider. Strategic ETH Reserve data shows that UNCX Network currently holds 1,700 ETH.

kpk

kpk helps institutions safeguard, manage, and develop their on-chain assets. According to kpk's June financial report, kpk holds approximately 1,700 ETH (mainly ETH staking assets). However, Strategic ETH Reserve data shows that kpk holds about 1,000 ETH.

Countries / Regions

United States

According to Arkham data, the U.S. government currently holds 59,951 ETH.

Michigan

A document submitted by the state of Michigan to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission at the end of 2024 shows that the state holds nearly $10.07 million in Grayscale Ethereum Trust ETF and $1.12 million in Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust ETF, as well as $6.98 million in ARK 21SHARES BITCOIN ETF.

Strategic ETH Reserve data shows that Michigan holds 4,000 ETH.

The data in this article primarily comes from the Strategic ETH Reserve website, exchange reserve proof websites, publicly available reports from project parties, or Arkham data.