Ether's treasury bonds are coming under increasing pressure because the crypto downturn deepens, and analysts are warning that the market is nearing a vital stage for Ether's investment case.
Bitmine Immersion Technologies, one in all the biggest corporate holders of Ether (ETH), is sitting on a big unrealized loss as ETH trades well below the corporate's average purchase price, in response to third-party tracker Bitminetracker. Some estimates put Bitmine's paper losses at $8.8 billion following Ether's decline in recent months.
The price of ETH has fallen 60% within the last six months and is well below Bitmine's average cost base of $3,843 per token, data from Bitminetracker shows.
Crypto research firm 10x Research said on Monday that Ether is currently trading near valuation and price basis levels that test whether the asset is merely in a cyclical downturn or entering a period of deeper, structural weakness.
“Investors must subsequently fastidiously consider whether the asset is just in a cyclical downturn or entering a period of deeper structural impairment.”
Despite mounting paper losses, Bitmine continues to purchase ETH. Last week, Bitmine acquired 45,749 Ether at a mean total cost of $1,992 per ETH, an indication of confidence from the world's largest Ether treasury company.
Source: 10x Research
Major Wall Street participants remain invested in Bitmine despite the market downturn.
Bitmine's 11 largest shareholders, including Morgan Stanley, Ark Investment Management and asset manager BlackRock, have all increased their exposure to the treasury company within the fourth quarter of 2025.
Bitmine's share price has fallen about 59% over the past six months, trading at $19.68 premarket on Monday, data from Google Finance showed.
Corporate Ethereum holders face mounting losses amid the downtrend
Other leading Ether treasury firms have also felt the pressure of the crypto market downturn.
SharpLink Gaming, the second-largest Ether treasury company, is currently facing a $1.4 billion paper loss as ETH trades below its average cost base of $3,609, in response to the corporate's dashboard.
ShaprLink Gaming, ETH holdings, cost basis and staking rewards. Source: Sharplink
According to CoinGecko, Ether Machine, the third largest company holder, has suffered unrealized losses of just about $948 million because it acquired its 496,712 Ether holdings, currently value $950 million, at a mean price of $3,788.
Smart money excludes ETH for $67 million as whales increase their spot investments
The leading crypto traders by way of returns, who’re considered “smart money,” proceed to bet on the decline of Ether.
According to crypto intelligence platform Nansen, smart money traders have accrued $1.48 million value of short positions within the last 24 hours and achieved a net short sale of $67 million value of Ether.
Smart money traders, most traded tokens and net positioning on the Hyperliquid exchange. Source: Nansen
Nevertheless, in response to Nansen, whales or large cryptocurrency investors have increased their spot Ether accumulation by greater than sixfold prior to now week as this cohort acquired $44 million in spot ETH across 41 wallets.
New wallets created within the last 15 days have also purchased $245 million value of spot Ether tokens, perhaps indicating that recent cryptocurrency market entrants are net buyers.
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