Trend Research quietly becomes one of Ethereum’s largest whales with 46K ETH buy

December 24, 2025

Trend Research purchased 46,379 Ether (ETH) on Wednesday to raise its holdings to about 580,000 ETH, making it larger than most public Ethereum treasuries tracked by CoinGecko.

Only two listed companies, SharpLink Gaming and BitMine Immersion Technologies, currently report bigger ETH balances, with 859,853 ETH and 4,066,062 ETH, respectively.

Trend Research is not a publicly listed company and therefore does not appear in most Ethereum treasury rankings. Still, it has drawn industry attention for its rapid ETH accumulation.

Trend Research is a secondary investment institution associated with LD Capital founder Jack Yi, who has been behind a series of large ETH purchases that began in October, blockchain records show.

A machine translation of Yi’s Thursday X post states that his company is preparing another $1 billion to keep buying Ether as he urged traders not to short.

The rapid accumulation by a non‑listed player, alongside Bitmine and SharpLink’s public hoards, pushes Ether treasury concentration higher even as broader market sentiment remains fragile.

Lacie Zhang, research analyst at Bitget Wallet, told Cointelegraph that companies buy ETH during downturns to transform passive treasuries into “productive, yield-bearing infrastructure.” However, unlike retail “dip buying,” corporate accumulation is “often a strategic play for network dominance.”

BitMine’s ‘alchemy of 5%’

The buying spree comes as BitMine announced a milestone of more than 4 million ETH on its balance sheet on Tuesday, or over 3.3% of the circulating supply, cementing its status as the largest known publicly listed ETH holder.

BitMine aims to keep increasing its Ether treasury well beyond the current 4 million ETH, with a target of 5% of the ETH supply.

It plans to stake a substantial portion of those holdings through its “Made in America Validator Network”, to generate yield on its long-term bet on Ethereum.

Zhang said that the staking engine was a “key motivator” for BitMine, and that, by reaching for a 5% supply target, it aimed to “dominate Ethereum’s proof-of-stake consensus,” earning consistent validation rewards and effectively “lowering their average cost basis regardless of price action.”

ETHZilla, FG Nexus and the sellers

Not every balance sheet is leaning in. ETHZilla, one of the higher‑profile Ether treasury plays, disclosed that it sold 24,291 ETH for roughly $74.5 million to redeem senior secured convertible notes, trimming its stash to around 69,800 ETH.

FG Nexus, a US-listed holding company focused on specialty finance and insurance, has also been liquidating Ether to fund an aggressive share repurchase program.

Zhang called the sales a “balance sheet maneuver,” and said that ETHZilla and FG Nexus were liquidating ETH to redeem debt or to execute stock buybacks when their share price trades at a discount to their crypto holdings.

She added, “For aggressive buyers, these liquidations represent a ‘transfer of wealth’ from distressed entities to those positioned to own the network’s future rails.”

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