jakiro
Author: Martin
On the one hand, institutions are entering the market in large numbers, and on the other hand, early players are leaving the market with profits. Ethereum Network is staged a pledge war worth $5 billion.
The Ethereum PoS network is staging an epic “tug-of-war”. The latest data shows that as of August 19, the number of ETHs exiting the queue on the Ethereum PoS network soared to 910,461, worth about US$3.91 billion, setting a record for the currency standard. These ETHs waiting to exit need to queue for about 15 days and 18 hours to complete the destaking operation.
At the same time, the number of ETHs waiting in line to join the Ethereum network is about 268,217, worth US$1.14 billion, with an activation delay of about 4 days and 15 hours, and a huge gap of nearly 650,000 ETHs is formed between in and out. The market bulls and short forces are engaged in fierce competition in the Ethereum staking pool.This seemingly contradictory capital game reveals the deep differences in the market over the future of Ethereum.
Exit wave: Who is evacuating?Why evacuate?
The surge in Ethereum prices has become a key factor in stimulating profit-taking.From the lowest point of 1386 in April 2025 to 4788,ETH price has soared by more than 350%, reaching an all-time high of $4,868.
Faced with such an increase, early pledgeers chose to unstake the pledge to lock in profits. On August 17, a whale user transferred 10,819 ETH (about 47.79 million US dollars) to the Kraken Exchange at one time, including 564 ETH pledge interest, and the overall floating profit exceeded 20.68 million US dollars.
Not only that, the decoupling of liquid staking tokens (LST) from ETH prices has exacerbated the crisis. In July, the discount rate between stETH and ETH once reached 0.4%, creating arbitrage space.
Some traders choose to buy pledged tokens at a low price in the secondary market, and earn the price difference by redeeming full ETH after unsoliciting them. The EtherFi platform’s liquidity strategy accumulates about 20,000 ETH withdrawal applications for a single point.
Lido, EtherFi and Coinbase have dominated the wave of de-staking of 285,000, 134,000 and 113,000 ETH respectively.
Entry wave: Why do institutions increase positions against the trend?
1. Restriction loosens ignites enthusiasm for institutions
On May 29, 2025, the US SEC clearly stated that “ETH pledge does not violate the Securities Law” and completely cleared the obstacles to institutional participation. Since then, the number of institutional pledge entrustment has increased by more than 100%, and the time for verifiers to queue up by 360%.Asset management giants such as BlackRock have submitted applications to the SEC, planning to add pledge functions to their spot ETH ETFs, with an expected annualized return of 3%-5%.
2. The “ETH Vault” strategy of listed companies rises
•BitMine Immersion:The cumulative holdings exceed 1.5 million pieces, with a current market value of approximately US$6.53 billion, is the world’s largest enterprise-level Ethereum holder. Currently, it actively increases its holdings in ETH and pledges, with the goal of increasing shareholder value through pledge income;
•SharpLink Gaming: Since transforming into ETH asset strategy in May,It holds a total of 728,800 ETH, with a current market value of approximately US$3.12 billion.Become one of the most corporate holders on Ethereum;
•The Ether Machine:The cumulative holdings are 345,400 ETH, with a current market value of approximately US$1.48 billion.On the tenth anniversary of Ethereum, a single increase in holdings of 15,000 ETH was highlighted, highlighting its determination to make strategic allocations.
3. ETF funds continue to transfusion
US spot ETH ETF continues to attract money since its launch:
•BlackRock iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA),Position: 3.6 million ETH, market value: approximately US$15.66 billion (calculated based on the current price of ETH ≈4,350 USD), Market position: The world’s largest Ethereum ETF, accounting for 60% of the total holdings of all Ethereum ETFs, and its asset management scale (AUM) exceeds US$10 billion, setting a record of US$1.79 billion in a single-day net inflow.
• Grayscale Ethereum Trust,Position: 2 million ETH, market value: approximately US$8.7 billion, latest developments: Net inflows exceeded US$730 million in the past week.In 2025, a total of US$7.3 billion was inflowed, and recently, it attracted more allocations due to pledge functions.
•Fidelity Ethereum Fund,Position: 793,600 pieces (accounting for approximately 15% of the total market share), Market performance: hit a historical peak of US$210 million in a single-day net inflow, ranking second in the third week of July 2025, pushing the total AUM of Ethereum ETFs to exceed US$20 billion.
Institutional funds have become the final ruling of this tug-of-war. In the past half month, institutional investors have increased their holdings of more than 1.83 million ETH, fully covering the understanding of the scale of pledge.
The coexistence of exit and entry is a sign of the maturity of the Ethereum ecosystem – early investors’ income is realized and institutional funds are long-term allocations. This capital turnover is essentially the market’s vote on the “financial infrastructure” status of Ethereum:When Wall Street bets on its settlement layer value with real money, short-term chip fluctuations will eventually give way to a new growth narrative.
