Ether is becoming increasingly attractive from a valuation standpoint, particularly relative to Bitcoin, but onchain data suggests the market has yet to reach a definitive cycle bottom, according to CryptoQuant.

In its latest weekly report, the analytics company said Ether (ETH) is trading roughly 17% below its realized price, or the average onchain acquisition cost of all ETH in circulation, of about $2,300. Historically, ETH trading below its realized price has coincided with periods of market undervaluation and long-term bottoms.

Ether is also showing signs of improving relative to Bitcoin (BTC). CryptoQuant said that ETH’s market value-to-realized value (MVRV) ratio has retreated from extreme overvaluation, exchange inflows have declined, exchange-traded fund (ETF) holdings have begun to recover after months of weakness, and ETH/BTC spot trading volumes have fallen into a range historically associated with market bottoms.

CryptoQuant says two of five key ETH bottoming indicators have been confirmed. Source: CryptoQuant

Even so, only two of CryptoQuant’s five bottoming indicators have reached historical reversal levels. The remaining metrics are improving but have yet to reach the extremes that have marked previous cycle lows, suggesting Ethereum’s bottom may still be forming.

The report comes as Ether briefly climbed above $1,950 this week and Bitcoin topped $67,000, buoyed by optimism surrounding the US CLARITY Act. At the same time, some market analysts have pointed to the potential for capital to rotate out of richly valued AI stocks and back into crypto, a shift that could further support Ether if risk appetite broadens.

The ETH/BTC MVRV ratio has fallen from nearly 0.95 in August 2025 to around 0.65, signaling that Ethereum has become significantly cheaper relative to Bitcoin. Source: CryptoQuant

Related: Grayscale plans regular cash payouts from ETH, SOL staking rewards

Ethereum supply tightens as exchange outflows and staking climb

Ethereum has shown several constructive onchain signals over the past month. During the week beginning June 29, withdrawal activity on Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume, climbed to its highest level in more than three years.

Analysts generally interpret sustained exchange outflows as a sign that investors are moving assets into self-custody or staking rather than keeping them on exchanges for potential sale, although such flows do not guarantee accumulation.

Meanwhile, a record 34% of Ethereum’s circulating supply is now staked, according to Staking Rewards. As Cointelegraph previously reported, higher staking participation reduces the amount of ETH readily available for trading, potentially easing short-term selling pressure if demand remains resilient.

Tom Lee’s Bitmine Immersion Technologies, the biggest corporate ETH holder, continues to accumulate Ether, boosting its holdings by 325,000 ETH over a one-month period, despite sitting on large unrealized losses. It has set a target to hold 5% of the second-biggest crypto.

Related: Will the US get CLARITY this week? Bitcoin’s new $80K target: Hodler’s Digest, July 19

TL;DR

Ethereum is trading near $1,920, testing the upper boundary of its price channel.
Previous encounters with this resistance have been followed by profit-taking and short-term corrections.
The Fund Market Premium remains positive, indicating futures traders still maintain some bullish positioning.
Fund volume has not increased significantly, suggesting the rally lacks strong new capital inflows.

Ethereum’s recent recovery could be approaching a critical turning point as the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency tests a major technical resistance level without the support of strong capital inflows.

The latest CryptoQuant chart shows Ethereum’s spot price on Binance trading around $1,920, placing it near the upper boundary of its price channel, a level that has historically triggered profit-taking and short-term corrections. While derivatives traders continue to show moderate optimism, on-chain indicators suggest the current rally may be running out of momentum.

Analysts say the combination of resistance at the channel ceiling and subdued fund volume increases the likelihood of a downward correction unless buyers step in with fresh liquidity.

Ethereum Tests a Historically Important Resistance Zone

Ethereum has steadily climbed from its recent lows, recovering much of the ground lost during June’s sharp sell-off. However, the latest price action has brought ETH back to a technical area that has repeatedly acted as a ceiling for previous rallies.

The analysis uses Binance’s ETH-USDT spot market as its primary reference. Because Binance remains the largest exchange by spot and derivatives trading volume, its price is widely regarded as one of the clearest reflections of overall market supply and demand.

The chart indicates that each time Ethereum previously reached the upper boundary of the Price Channel, buying momentum faded and sellers emerged to lock in profits. With ETH once again approaching that same level, traders are closely watching whether history will repeat itself.

Futures Traders Remain Positive, But Volume Tells a Different Story

One encouraging sign for bulls is that the Fund Market Premium indicator remains above zero. This suggests demand in the futures market has not disappeared entirely, with leveraged traders still maintaining a relatively constructive outlook.

However, the premium alone does not necessarily signal that prices will continue climbing.

Another key metric on the chart, Fund Volume, shows little evidence of a meaningful increase in new capital entering the market. The lack of a significant rise in trading volume suggests the recent recovery has been driven more by existing participants than by fresh buyers.

Without stronger inflows, rallies often become more vulnerable to exhaustion as buying pressure begins to weaken.

Weak Capital Inflows Could Limit Further Upside

Market analysts frequently view rising trading volume as confirmation that a price move has broad market support. When prices rise without a corresponding increase in volume, it can indicate that the move lacks conviction.

That appears to be the case with Ethereum’s latest advance.

Despite the steady rebound, the absence of a notable expansion in fund volume raises questions about whether the rally has enough momentum to break through a well-established resistance zone.

If new liquidity continues to remain limited, traders could become more inclined to secure profits after Ethereum’s recent gains.

Channel Resistance Remains the Key Level to Watch

The technical outlook remains largely dependent on Ethereum’s ability to overcome the upper boundary of the price channel.

A decisive break above this resistance, supported by stronger trading volume and increased capital inflows, would weaken the bearish outlook and could open the door for another leg higher.

Until that happens, however, the current setup favors caution.

The combination of resistance at a historically important technical level, modest futures optimism, and muted fund inflows suggests that selling pressure could emerge before Ethereum establishes a sustained uptrend, as analysts predict it could beat Bitcoin in the distant future.

For now, traders are likely to keep a close eye on whether buyers can generate enough momentum to invalidate the current technical warning or whether another pullback develops from the resistance zone.

Ethereum is running out of money, according to former insiders.

The warning has sparked one of the fiercest Ethereum governance debates in months: should the network fund developers by taxing staking rewards, or just rely on wealthy Ether holders to bankroll its ecosystem?

At the center of the debate is a controversial proposal from Kleros co-founder Clément Lesaege. He suggested redirecting up to 10% of validator rewards to ecosystem funding through a protocol-level mechanism called Validator Redirected Revenue.

Lesaege argued that this may be necessary to solve Ethereum’s “coordination failure” and reduce the underfunding of shared ecosystem work.

The idea was met with a wave of backlash, with critics warning of cartel-like incentives and a dangerous precedent for validator-led redistribution.

Validator Redirected Revenue proposal. Source: Eth Research

But just as the Ethereum community was sharpening its knives, a “credibly neutral” solution was forming: Ethlabs.

Unveiled Monday by five former Ethereum Foundation researchers, the shiny nonprofit Ethereum research and development lab is backed by the ecosystem’s biggest supporters, including BitMine, Sharplink and ConsenSys founder Joseph Lubin.

Related: Ethereum Foundation sacks 20% of workforce amid strategic restructuring

With large investors ready to dig into their pockets, the real question becomes less about whether Ethereum can fund itself and more about how it wants to be funded.

Ethereum’s ‘slow-burning funding crisis’

The latest ETH drama began on Friday when former Ethereum Foundation contributor Trenton Van Epps warned that Ethereum’s core development ecosystem could face a “slow-burning funding crisis” within three to nine months as older support programs dry up and Foundation spending falls.

He estimated that maintaining more than 10 client, research and coordination teams costs roughly $30 million a year, and that the Client Incentive Program and other support mechanisms were no longer enough to cover that bill.

Van Epps argued that Ethereum is entering an institutional “inheritance” phase in which the Foundation will move away from being the primary steward of protocol funding, and that new arrangements must replace the expiring programs he helped coordinate.

Having spent much of the year dealing with leadership turnover, public criticism over priorities, and a growing debate over core protocol funding, Van Epps’ warning touched a raw nerve.

But some Ethereum voices pushed back, arguing that the EF has “enough funds to run for at least 30 years, so there is zero funding crisis.” Bitmine’s Tom Lee also rejected the warning, saying there was “zero chance” of Ethereum running out of funds for protocol development.

Ethereum Foundation Treasury Policy. Source: Ethereum Foundation

The Ethereum Foundation’s own treasury policy already points to a multi-year operating buffer and a planned reduction in annual spending.

In June 2025, the EF said it would maintain a 2.5-year operating expense buffer in cash and stablecoins, pledged to cap annual spending at 15% of total treasury assets and gradually reduce that spending rate toward a 5% baseline over five years.

Related: Ethereum can quantum-proof accounts for just 7 cents, says Ethereum’s Kohaku lead

On Tuesday, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin said the Foundation is decreasing its budget by roughly 40%, in line with that policy, as it transitions from spending around 15% of its funds annually before 2026 toward a long-term target of about 5% per year after 2030. It laid off 54 staff members.

The proposal everyone hates

So the Foundation may not run out of money, but it is tightening its belt and has a lot less cash to spend on research and development than in its glory days. Lesaege argued that Ethereum suffers from a coordination failure in which everyone benefits from shared infrastructure — but no one wants to foot the bill.

His proposal would require validators to signal how much of their staking rewards they are willing to redirect, a figure between 0% and 10%. If a majority of validators supported a non-zero rate, that redirect would become mandatory for all.

At current staking levels, he estimated that even a 5%-10% redirect could generate roughly 50,000 to 70,000 ETH per year for ecosystem work, or roughly $82.5 million to $115.5 million at current ETH prices today.

Incentive to fund Ethereum growth. Source: Eth Research

Critics quickly zeroed in on the mechanism’s power dynamics, warning that it could entrench large validators, blur the line between operators and governance actors, and give a stake-weighted majority new leverage over ecosystem funding decisions.

What staking providers say

A spokesperson for Figment told Cointelegraph the proposal would compress margins, which “tends to consolidate the validator set toward larger, more integrated operators” serving institutional clients, like Figment.

This would come at the “cost of some operator diversity and potentially fewer net new ETH stakers,” the spokesperson said.

Andrew Gibb, chief executive and co-founder of Twinstake institutional staking, told Cointelegraph that various investor segments would respond differently.

While long-term ETH holders may value the prospect of a better-funded ecosystem, shorter-term capital, such as retail participants, liquid multi-asset funds and reward-focused allocators may be less receptive.

He said the proposal would “narrow the addressable staking market at the margin,” with the most price-sensitive cohorts likely to “reduce or exit positions,” adding that he would expect some clients to reassess their staking allocations.

Related: Buterin fires back at Ethereum Foundation critics, recommits to neutrality

Senior research associate at Bitwise, Max Shannon, told Cointelegraph that Ethereum staking participation has so far shown limited sensitivity to lower rewards.

He said that the staking annual percentage rate (APR) has fallen from about 4.6% in June 2023 to around 2.7% now, while staked supply and the staking ratio roughly doubled. However, additional reward compression would make “slashing risk and exit-queue liquidity risk more material relative to the return.”

He added that a lower net consensus-layer yield could push validators to rely more heavily on maximal extractable value (MEV) to make up lost APR, which could potentially weigh on censorship resistance.

How large is the problem, really?

On paper the funding gap is not that large. Shannon noted that if the annual shortfall is around $30 million and annual staking rewards are about $1.9 billion, so the gap could be filled with just 1.6% of staking rewards.

That makes Lesaege’s proposal look modest, even though it remains politically radioactive. In economic terms, a single-digit haircut on staking rewards is manageable. In governance terms, many Ethereum participants see it as a line-crossing move that turns validators into a tax authority.

Shannon also argued that networks with hard-coded development funding are not necessarily better off just because they earmark rewards. In his view, protocol success is driven far more by token performance and contributor incentives than by any one developer funding mechanism.

A new funding model emerges

Tom Lee’s comment there was “zero chance” of an Ethereum funding crisis and that funds were “secured” foreshadowed the unveiling of the new non-profit EthLabs a few days later.

Rather than taxing rewards at the protocol level, Ethlabs enables large ETH-aligned institutions such as BitMine and Sharplink to fund development directly.

Ethlabs nonprofit R&D for Ethereum. Source: Ethlabs

It does not replace the Ethereum Foundation, but complements it. EthLabs signals that the smart contract platform’s next phase may involve a more distributed funding model, where the EF remains central to the protocol’s core, while other labs and treasury-heavy institutions fund adjacent work.

In an X post on Monday, Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin said there is still “an enormous amount of top tier talent” at the Ethereum Foundation that remain focused on “the cypherpunk core components” of the protocol. But he added that many other Ethereum R&D teams will now explore other dimensions.

Gibb said that the responsibility for funding ecosystem development sits with foundations and protocol treasuries. There are alternate mechanisms to explore, such as staking yield or priority fees, he added, “before making changes to validator economics at the protocol level.”

Whether Ethlabs proves sufficient remains to be seen. But its emergence has already shifted the debate from how Ethereum should tax itself to whether it needs to at all.

Market Moves: Why is Ethereum Foundation selling? BTC futures warning signs

Asset manager Grayscale plans to establish regular cash distributions from rewards generated by its Ether (ETH) and Solana (SOL) staking exchange-traded products (ETPs), giving holders recurring access to yield generated by underlying assets. 

In Form 8-K filings submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Grayscale said it intends to amend the trust agreements governing the Grayscale Solana Staking ETF (GSOL) and the Grayscale Ethereum Staking ETF (ETHE) around Aug. 7. The amendments would require each trust to convert staking rewards into cash no less often than quarterly and distribute net proceeds to shareholders. 

The framework could make staking returns more accessible to traditional investors by delivering cash rewards through broker-held products, eliminating the need for shareholders to hold crypto, pick validators and manage staking operations. However, Grayscale said distribution amounts cannot be predicted as they will depend on the staking rewards during each period and expenses deducted by the trusts. 

Grayscale made its first ETHE staking distribution on Jan. 5, paying shareholders about $0.08 per share from the sale of rewards. The asset manager enabled staking for its ETH and SOL products on Oct. 6, 2025, becoming the first US crypto fund issuer to add staking to spot crypto ETPs. 

ETHE ended the week with $1.22 billion in net assets, while GSOL had $101.13 million, Yahoo Finance data showed. The Ethereum fund’s gross staking rewards were 2.67%, as of July 17, while the Solana fund’s gross staking rewards were 6.10%, according to the fund’s home pages.

Aligning staking funds with US tax guidance

Grayscale said the changes are designed to keep the funds compliant with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rules that enable them to earn staking rewards without losing their current tax treatment. 

The company said the amendments should not significantly harm shareholders, but it’s still giving them a 20-day notice. Once the changes take effect, the asset manager plans to update the funds to explain how the regular cash payouts will work. 

Related: Bitcoin ETF inflows extend to second week, but recovery lacks momentum

Under the proposal, each trust could deduct expenses not assumed by Grayscale before making a distribution. These costs may include a portion of the staking rewards paid to the sponsor in exchange for arranging and facilitating the staking activities. 

The filings do not set a fixed distribution amount or guarantee that payouts will be identical each quarter. Instead, the filings said that rewards may vary depending on the assets staked and network conditions. 

Magazine: Inside the ‘fake police raid’ that forced a $1M Bitcoin transfer

Tether stablecoin USDt has become the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization as Ether fell to its lowest price of the year on Friday

Ether’s market capitalization dropped below $185 billion following a 5.2% price crash over 24 hours, sending the asset tumbling to $1,510 on Coinbase, according to TradingView. This allowed USDt, with a $186 billion market capitalization, to surpass the cryptocurrency. 

“[The] stablecoin overtake really highlights how the market still favors stability over ETH’s volatility right now,” Andri Fauzan Adziima, research lead at Bitrue Research Institute, told Cointelegraph. 

The development reflects accelerating stablecoin growth, which currently represents almost 15% of the entire crypto market capitalization. Stablecoin supply contracted more than 30% in the last bear market, but they’re hitting record highs this time, wrote 21Shares on Thursday, adding:

“To us, that is the strongest evidence yet that stablecoins are one of crypto’s defining use cases – demand that no longer depends on the cycle.”

USDt flipped ETH in market capitalization. Source: CoinGecko

Alvin Kan, chief operating officer of Bitget Wallet, told Cointelegraph that the flip is a “notable milestone that highlights the explosive growth and dominance of stablecoins in today’s crypto ecosystem.”

“It demonstrates strong demand for reliable, liquid on- and off-ramps during periods of volatility, while serving as a reminder that ETH must continue delivering compelling utility and narrative momentum to maintain its position.” 

Kan said the development is positive for the broader market, as deeper stablecoin liquidity supports higher trading volumes and ecosystem innovation.

Related: Sharplink buys ETH after 8-month pause as token hits 2026 low

ETH prices are back at crucial support levels last visited in October 2023 and April 2025.

The Ethereum ecosystem has also faced internal changes recently, following several executive departures and a 20% workforce reduction at the Ethereum Foundation.

However, a new nonprofit organization called Ethlabs was launched this week by key EF developers and researchers and backed by Ether treasuries Bitmine and Sharplink. 

ETH prices are at a critical long-term support level. Source: TradingView

Not all are bearish  

Some have taken Ether’s decline as an opportunity.

Ether treasury company Sharplink bought the dip, making its first purchase in eight months, scooping up 5,000 ETH on Thursday. Bitmine, chaired by Tom Lee, has also been accumulating at these low prices, adding a further 76,881 ETH last week. 

Meanwhile, Circle’s USDC (USDC) also flipped Ripple’s XRP (XRP) in market capitalization as XRP fell back towards $1, its lowest level since November 2024, leaving XRP with a market capitalization of $64 billion compared with USDC’s $73.6 billion.

Magazine: AI is banking the unbanked in Africa… faster than crypto

Everything that happened in crypto news in Asia over the past seven days: Asia Express.

In this edition:

Ripple joins Singapore’s BLOOM sandboxBhutan trims Bitcoin holdings even furtherJapan jumps on the KuCoin dogpileStartale completes $63 million Series A with SBI backingONUS fraud probe in VietnamFenbushi’s Bo Shen launches recovery bounty after 2022 hackCoinDCX founders cleared of fraud allegationsSouth Korea gives Upbit a wrist slap over misleading discount adsUK sanctions Xinbi marketplace

Ripple joins Singapore’s BLOOM sandbox

Ripple has joined Singapore’s BLOOM sandbox with Unloq to trial cross-border trade finance using XRP Ledger and its RLUSD stablecoin.

The setup ties contracts, settlement conditions and financing into one system, with payments executed automatically once agreed terms are met.

The pilot will rely on RLUSD and tokenized bank liabilities to handle transactions while aiming to improve transparency around settlement risk.

BLOOM (borderless, liquid, open, online and multi-currency) is a Singapore initiative to expand how financial institutions settle transactions using tokenized bank liabilities and regulated stablecoins.

Bhutan trims Bitcoin holdings even further

Bhutan has moved another 519 Bitcoin worth about $37 million from a state-linked wallet, continuing a series of March transfers.

Blockchain data shows the funds were sent to two wallets, with one tied to trading firm QCP Capital, according to Onchain Lens.

Bhutan’s Bitcoin fell from over 10,000 BTC to around 6,400 BTC in early October. (Arkham)

The latest transaction follows earlier outflows this month, adding to a steady drawdown in the country’s holdings since late 2024.

Bhutan’s wallet now holds around 4,453 BTC, down sharply from more than 13,000 BTC at its peak.

Japan jumps on the KuCoin dogpile

Japan’s Financial Services Agency on Thursday issued warning notices to KuCoin and three other platforms for soliciting OTC derivatives trades online without proper registration.

“KuCoin is not currently registered with the Financial Services Agency of Japan and does not operate a licensed entity in Japan,” a spokesperson for the exchange told Cointelegraph. “We respect Japan’s regulatory framework and will continue to assess and refine relevant arrangements in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, while maintaining constructive communication with relevant parties where appropriate.”

The spokesperson added that the notice does not affect its global operations and that it will continue engaging with regulators while reviewing its compliance setup.

Earlier in March, Dubai regulators said KuCoin is not authorized to serve local residents. The exchange holds an EU license through Austria, but regulators there barred it from onboarding new customers over breaches related to money laundering prevention, while Thailand temporarily suspended its operations after its capital fell below required levels.

Startale completes $63 million Series A with SBI backing

Startale announced the start of its hiring campaign to put its fresh funds to use. (Startale)

Startale Group has secured a $50 million investment from SBI to complete its $63 million Series A, backing its push into tokenized securities and stablecoins in Japan.

The funding will be used to scale its Strium blockchain, expand its yen and dollar stablecoins and develop a consumer-facing onchain app.

The round follows a $13 million first close earlier this year and builds on ongoing collaborations between Startale and SBI.

The companies are working together on tokenized equities, settlement infrastructure and regulated stablecoin projects targeting Japan’s financial market.

ONUS fraud probe in Vietnam

Vietnamese police have detained several suspects tied to the ONUS crypto project over fraud allegations.

The group allegedly created and controlled tokens like VNDC, ONUS and HNG, using coordinated price movements and misleading campaigns to attract investors and misappropriate funds, said the Ministry of Public Security.

Authorities alleged that the group raised billions of dollars. CoinMarketCap puts ONUS token’s market capitalization at around $29 million, down from its peak of $260 million.

ONUS token data on CoinMarketCap is self-reported and not independently verified by the data aggregator. (CoinMarketCap)

Fenbushi’s Bo Shen launches recovery bounty after 2022 hack

Fenbushi Capital co-founder Bo Shen has offered a bounty of up to 20% to recover roughly $42 million stolen from his personal wallet in 2022.

Onchain investigators have already helped freeze about $1.2 million, as efforts continue to trace the funds across exchanges.

Chances of recovering stolen cryptocurrencies remain low despite advances in security tools. (Bo Shen)

The breach was linked to a compromised seed phrase, with assets including USDC, Ether, USDT and Bitcoin moved through services like ChangeNow and SideShift.

Shen first disclosed the loss in November 2022. He said the stolen funds did not affect Fenbushi and its related entities.

CoinDCX founders cleared of fraud allegations

CoinDCX CEO claims victims were tricked by a fake website and impersonators. (Sumit Gupta)

An Indian court granted bail to CoinDCX co-founders Sumit Gupta and Niraj Khandelwal, finding no case against them based on the available evidence.

Gupta and Khandelwal were taken into police custody on March 21 over an alleged fraud case. However, the judge said the scheme was carried out by another individual impersonating the exchange.

Investigators did not oppose their release and said the founders were not present at the location where the incident occurred.

South Korea gives Upbit a wrist slap over misleading discount ads

South Korea’s antitrust regulator has ordered Upbit operator Dunamu to correct misleading advertising over trading fee discounts.

Authorities said the exchange promoted a reduced fee from 0.139% to 0.05%, even though the higher rate had never been applied.

The regulator found the claims could mislead users and distort competition by presenting inaccurate pricing information.

Dunamu was issued a corrective order without fines.

UK sanctions Xinbi marketplace

The UK on Thursday announced sanctions against Xinbi, a Chinese-language crypto marketplace accused of enabling large-scale fraud, aiming to cut it off from crypto access.

Officials said the platform provides tools and services used by scam networks across Southeast Asia and plays a central role in their operations.

Xinbi has handled tens of billions in crypto flows, including about $17.9 billion in onchain volume since 2025, according to TRM Labs, though the figure includes internal transfers and not all funds are confirmed illicit.

Vendors from illicit Telegram marketplace Huione Guarantee moved to Xinbi. (TRM)

The measures freeze any UK-linked assets and ban businesses and individuals from engaging with the platform or supporting its activities.

An Ethereum whale who shorted Ether (ETH) during the October 2025 crypto crash has returned after eight months of silence.

Key takeaways:

Ethereum whale opens a $19.72 million 20x ETH short near the $1,500 support zone.ETH’s bear flag setup hints at a decline toward $1,375, which may earn the whale roughly $2.39 million in profit.

Ethereum whale opens 20x short after eight-month hiatus

On Friday, wallet 0xf83f…6728 opened a 20x-leveraged ETH short worth $19.72 million as Ether reached the $1,500 support zone after dropping 18.25% over the last two weeks.

The position was opened at an average price of around $1,565, according to data resource Hyperbot. As of this press time, the whale had earned nearly $106,500 in unrealized profits as the ETH price dropped around the $1,550 area.

Ethereum whale’s $19.72M position status as of Friday. Source: Hyperbot

The downside sentiment in the Ethereum market has tracked a broader tech-led risk selloff, with traders cutting exposure to speculative assets as Nasdaq and chip stocks came under pressure.

Ethereum-specific sentiment has weakened further amid renewed scrutiny of the Ethereum Foundation, following reports of budget cuts, staff reductions and a wave of senior departures that have raised questions about the organization’s leadership stability.

Ether is eyeing a decline toward the $1,375 level if it continues the breakdown out of its prevailing bear flag pattern.

ETH/USD daily price chart tracking the bear flag breakdown setup. Source: TradingView

If ETH falls to $1,375, the whale’s unrealized profit would rise to roughly $2.39 million before fees and funding, based on the position’s approximate $1,565 entry price.

Same whale shorted ETH near October 2025 crash top

The wallet’s latest move stands out because of its trading history.

Transaction logs show that wallet ‘0xf83f…6728’ last became active on Oct. 27, 2025, when it opened an ETH short near $4,172 as volatility from the October crypto crash was easing.

Related: Are Ethereum OGs jumping ship? Here’s what the data says

The trader later closed the position near $4,133, booking $41,693 in net profit after $5,263 in exchange fees.

Ethereum whale’s filled ETH orders from October 2025. Source: Hyperbot

The whale’s current strategy appears similar: short ETH into weakness, use high leverage, and lean into downside momentum. The scale has changed sharply, however, since the current position carries nearly $20 million in notional exposure, making it far larger than the whale’s October 2025 trade.

ETH double bottom could threaten the whale’s short

The whale’s bearish bet is not without risk.

As of Friday, Ether’s daily chart showed a potential double bottom near the $1,500–$1,512 support area, where buyers stepped in twice in June. The setup remains unconfirmed, but a strong rebound from this zone could shift short-term momentum back toward the bulls.

ETH/USD daily price chart tracking a potential double-bottom breakout setup. Source: TradingView

The key level to watch is the neckline near $1,850. A decisive daily close above that level would confirm the double bottom pattern and open the door to a measured rebound toward roughly $2,190, based on the distance between the neckline and the $1,512 bottom.

That would put ETH close to the whale’s liquidation zone near $2,150, meaning a confirmed bullish reversal could pressure or even wipe out the short position if the trader does not add collateral or reduce exposure.

European authorities added 14 crypto companies to the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework register in the second post-deadline update, signaling a slower licensing pace after an initial surge.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) updated its interim MiCA register on Thursday, bringing the total number of licensed crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) to 294.

The new entries include Ripple Payments Europe, the European payments arm of blockchain company Ripple, as well as Portugal-based Bison Bank and Croatia’s state-owned bank, Hrvatska poštanska banka (HPB).

The update follows ESMA’s previous register expansion on July 3, when the regulator added 37 CASPs in the first major post-deadline update after MiCA’s transitional period ended.

Banks deepen MiCA presence

Several newly added companies highlight the continued entry of traditional financial institutions into Europe’s regulated crypto market.

In addition to Bison Bank and HPB, the MiCA register added two cooperative banks from Germany, namely Volksbank Schwarzwald-Donau-Neckar and Raiffeisenbank Auerbach-Freihung.

The update also included Liechtenstein-based Kaiser Partner Privatbank, expanding the presence of private banking groups offering regulated crypto services under MiCA.

Fourteen new CASPs in the MiCA register update on Thursday. Source: ESMA

The register counts dozens of traditional finance institutions, including Spain’s BBVA and CaixaBank, Germany’s Commerzbank, France’s CACEIS Bank and Standard Chartered Luxembourg.

EMT and ART registers remain unchanged

ESMA reported no changes to its registers for electronic money tokens (EMTs), a category of crypto-assets designed to maintain a stable value against a single official currency, or asset-referenced tokens (ARTs), which are linked to multiple assets such as currencies or commodities.

As of the latest update, the EMT register counted 21 unique issuers, while the ART register continued to list no approved issuers.

Related: MiCA licensing only the beginning as crypto custodians face scrutiny

The regulator also added two entities to its non-compliant register following actions by Italy’s securities regulator, the Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (CONSOB).

The new additions were Reversal Investment Group and Kortex, bringing the total number of entries on the non-compliant list to 164, including crypto exchange MEXC.

Magazine: Will the crypto lobby’s $189M campaign get CLARITY over the line?

Key takeaways:

BitMine’s aggressive ETH accumulation has reinforced the $1,500 support despite $8B unrealized losses.Glamsterdam upgrade and Robinhood Chain launch signal stronger TradFi focus for Ethereum’s base layer.

Ether (ETH) price rallied 15% in five days, distancing itself from the $1,500 low hit on June 26. Part of the improvement in investor sentiment can be pinned to the final tests on Ethereum’s Glamsterdam upgrade, targeted for later in 2026. Moreover, BitMine Immersion Technologies’ continued Ether accumulation helped strengthen the support level. Will $2,000 come next?

Total crypto capitalization/USD (left) vs. ETH/USD (right). Source: TradingView

Ether outperformed the total crypto market capitalization by 7% over the past 30 days. Some excitement came from optimism about the passage of the Digital Assets CLARITY Act, a bill that has faced several hurdles advancing in Congress after pushback from the banking sector on stablecoin regulation and potential rewards to its holders.

ETH options 25% delta skew (put-call) at Deribit. Source: Laevitas

Ether’s recent rally toward $1,800 was enough to instill some confidence in ETH options markets as the skew (put-call) metric exited the fear levels that prevailed until Friday. The current 9% premium in put (sell) options relative to equivalent call (buy) instruments is far from bullish, but it distances itself from the 15% mark from the prior week. Levels above 12% typically indicate extreme fear.

Ethereum network upgrade, Robinhood Chain behind ETH price rally

One of Ethereum’s main criticisms lies in its scalability using layer-2 rollups facilitated by data packages (blobs) that drastically reduced transaction fees but triggered fierce debates over long-term data censorship and centralization. Base layer network fees took a hit, which in turn reduced ETH burning and ultimately led to inflationary supply dynamics.

Ethereum base layer monthly network revenue, USD. Source: DefiLlama

The Ethereum Glamsterdam upgrade, currently in the testing phase, should improve network processing speeds by allowing more transactions to be processed in parallel. The proposal will also expand capacity for Ethereum to handle more data at higher throughput and reduce database bloat. One goal is providing institutional-grade infrastructure for financial use cases.

BitMine (BMNR US) ETH holdings and shares outstanding. Source: bmnr.rocks

The continued accumulation by the US-listed company BitMine Immersion has likely helped strengthen the $1,500 support. The company increased its holdings by 325,000 ETH over the past month, boosting its reserves to 5.74 million ETH. Regardless of the current $8 billion in unrealized losses on its ETH holdings, BitMine continues its path toward acquiring 5% of the existing supply.

Related: Vitalik Buterin shares priorities for new ‘Lean Ethereum’ strawmap

The launch of Robinhood Chain on July 2, an EVM-compatible Ethereum layer-2 built using Arbitrum technology, helped consolidate the ecosystem with the traditional finance industry. More importantly, Robinhood rolled out tokenized stock trading in more than 120 countries along with major decentralized finance (DeFi) integrations, including Uniswap, 1inch and Morpho.

While Ethereum onchain and derivatives metrics paint a somewhat bearish picture with low network fees and low conviction in options markets, Ether’s upside comes from real-world traditional finance use case growth and network upgrades capable of significantly expanding base layer capacity. Overall, the path to ETH at $2,000 appears entirely viable in the near term.