Corporate treasury participation in ether (ETH) has surged in recent months, with institutional entities now holding 1% of the cryptocurrency’s circulating supply, according to a report from investment bank Standard Chartered (STAN).
The bank predicts that ether treasury holdings could reach 10% of total supply over time, a 10-fold increase from current levels.
The pace of buying rivals inflows into spot ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) , which are themselves seeing record demand, the report said.
Several companies have recently unveiled ether treasury strategies that generate passive yield through ETH staking. These include BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) and SharpLink Gaming (SBET).
The recent influx of both ETF and corporate demand has probably helped drive ether’s outperformance against bitcoin (BTC), with the ETH/BTC ratio rising from 0.018 in April to 0.032 in July, wrote Geoff Kendrick, global head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered.
The trend has outpaced the equivalent corporate uptake of bitcoin and may signal the beginning of a longer-term structural shift in institutional digital asset portfolios, Kendrick said.
Unlike bitcoin, ether treasury holdings offer returns from staking rewards, currently around 3%, and decentralized finance (DeFi) leverage opportunities, giving them a structural advantage over BTC treasuries.
Standard Chartered argues this regulatory arbitrage, especially in jurisdictions where direct crypto access is limited, makes ether an increasingly attractive asset for listed companies looking to hold digital assets on their balance sheets.
The bank maintained its ether year-end price target of $4,000. The world’s second-largest cryptocurrency was trading around $3,830 at publication time.
Read more: Ether Treasuries Target Yield, but Risk Looms, Says Wall Street Broker Bernstein