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Trend Research quietly builds one of the largest ETH treasuries
Trend Research made headlines after acquiring 46,379 Ether in a single transaction, vaulting the private investment firm into the top tier of Ethereum treasuries. The purchase pushes its holdings to roughly 580,000 ETH, a level that outstrips most publicly reported corporate Ether reserves tracked across crypto data aggregators.
How this positions Trend Research among institutional ETH holders
Only two publicly listed companies — SharpLink Gaming and BitMine Immersion Technologies — currently report larger ETH balances, with 859,853 ETH and 4,066,062 ETH respectively. Because Trend Research is privately held, it does not always appear in conventional treasury rankings, yet the scale and speed of its accumulation have drawn significant attention from analysts and on-chain watchers.
Blockchain records and reporting link Trend Research to Jack Yi, founder of LD Capital, and indicate a pattern of large Ether buys beginning in October. A machine translation of Yi’s X post referenced preparations for another $1 billion war chest earmarked to continue buying Ether, while Yi publicly urged traders against shorting the asset.
Trend Research is preparing another $1 billion to buy ETH
Implications for ETH treasury concentration and market dynamics
The concentration of ETH into a few large treasuries — now including an off‑market private player like Trend Research — increases institutional influence over Ether supply distribution. That dynamic can be meaningful for price discovery, liquidity, and market sentiment, especially during periods of fragile macro conditions.
Lacie Zhang, research analyst at Bitget Wallet, told Cointelegraph that companies tend to buy Ether in downturns to convert passive balance sheets into productive, yield-bearing infrastructure. Institutional accumulation differs from retail dip buying: it is often strategic, targeting network influence, staking rewards, and long-term exposure to Ethereum’s proof-of-stake economy.
Staking, yield and the race for protocol influence
BitMine’s recent milestone highlights the strategy in motion: the company reported more than 4 million ETH on its balance sheet — roughly 3.3% of circulating supply — and has publicly stated a goal of reaching 5% of ETH supply. BitMine plans to stake a significant portion through its Made in America Validator Network, seeking steady validation rewards and a lower effective cost basis over time.
For large corporate treasuries, staking is a core motivator. By turning Ether holdings into staked assets, institutions generate sustainable yield while increasing their role in Ethereum’s consensus. That institutional stake can compound influence, creating incentives to scale validator operations and capture network rewards.
Who is selling, and why some treasuries are shrinking
Not every corporate or institutional treasury is accumulating. ETHZilla, once a high-profile treasury manager, disclosed a sale of 24,291 ETH — approximately $74.5 million — to redeem senior secured convertible notes, reducing its holdings to about 69,800 ETH. FG Nexus, a US-listed specialty finance and insurance holding company, has also been liquidating Ether to fund an aggressive share repurchase program.
Zhang characterized these moves as balance-sheet maneuvers: selling to repay debt or to buy back shares when equity trades at a discount to crypto holdings. Those transactions provide buying opportunities for aggressive institutions, shifting ownership from distressed or capital-constrained entities to buyers with longer-term exposure and access to staking infrastructure.
What this means for crypto investors and DeFi participants
Rising institutional treasuries concentrated in fewer hands can magnify market reaction to large buys or sells, increasing short-term volatility but potentially supporting a higher long-term capital base for Ethereum. For DeFi protocols and validators, this trend means more ETH may be directed into staking and liquid-staking derivatives, boosting protocol-level liquidity and yield opportunities for users.
Investors in Ether, DeFi, and staking products should monitor on-chain flows, treasury disclosures, and institutional staking announcements. The interplay between treasury accumulation, staking strategies, and macro liquidity will help determine how these large-scale buys ultimately affect network security, yield distribution, and price action in the months ahead.
Source: cointelegraph
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