Written by: EeeVee
Over the past month, Ethereum (ETH) has surged from $2,100 to $3,000. During this rise, US stocks and mining companies have announced purchasing ETH as their "strategic reserve", with some mining companies even selling all their BTC to buy ETH with cash.
According to statistics, Ethereum strategic reserve companies have purchased over 545,000 ETH in the past month, with a total value exceeding $1.6 billion.
SharpLink (SBET), the first company to use ETH as a strategic reserve, saw its stock price surge from $3 to over $100 after announcing ETH purchase, then drop to single digits, and is now back above $20.
Recently, SBET purchased nearly 50,000 ETH in just 5 days, with its total ETH holdings now exceeding the Ethereum Foundation.
Additionally, SBET has staked part of its ETH on-chain to earn staking rewards, earning 322 ETH by July 8.
Currently, the main US stocks using ETH as a "strategic reserve" are 5 companies:
SharpLink Gaming (SBET)
BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR)
Bit Digital (BTBT)
Blockchain Technology Consensus Solutions (BTCS)
GameSquare (GAME)
ETH holdings for each company are as follows:
mNAV is the ratio of market capitalization to net asset value, calculated as follows:
The mNAV of ETH strategic reserve companies is primarily estimated by "stock market capitalization" / "total ETH value held".
Is the Market FOMO-ing?
This mNAV data represents the disconnect between company market value and assets, reflecting market sentiment premium for a concept or stock. A higher mNAV often indicates speculative market sentiment, while a lower mNAV suggests a relatively rational investor state.
Looking at BTC strategic reserve companies, as of May 2025, MicroStrategy's (MSTR) market value is about 1.78 times its Bitcoin net asset value (mNAV), with fluctuations between 1 to 4.5 times between August 2022 and August 2024.
MSTR's mNAV curve reflects how crypto market sentiment drives the valuation of such companies.
Its peak of 4.5 times typically occurs during BTC bull markets and massive BTC accumulation periods, showing strong investor enthusiasm. The low point of 1 times corresponds to crypto market bear and consolidation periods, indicating investors' unwillingness to pay sentiment premium.
An mNAV between 2-2.5 represents a relatively neutral investment sentiment and premium.
By this standard, SBET and BTCS are currently in this range, while BMNR and BTBT's mNAV are slightly high.
It's worth noting that BMNR and BTBT were originally mining companies and may hold other assets besides ETH, which have not been calculated.
Overall, Ethereum strategic reserve stocks are currently in a relatively rational valuation range, and market enthusiasm has not reached FOMO.
If Ethereum Rises to $5000, How Many Times Could These Companies Multiply?
If ETH price continues to rise to $5000 in the coming months, assuming these companies' total ETH holdings remain unchanged and no additional fundraising occurs, with a rational premium (mNAV = 2), the potential stock prices and gains would be:
Investors should note that mNAV = 2 is a relatively neutral premium rate. If ETH truly rises to $5000, the market might be willing to pay a higher sentiment premium for these ETH strategic reserve companies.
Additionally, the ETH staked by these companies will generate returns during this period, increasing their ETH holdings.
Ethereum Value Discovery: Why Suddenly Attractive to Institutions?
When these Ethereum strategic reserve companies discuss why they chose ETH, the main reasons are:
Success of BTC reserve companies like MSTR
ETH staking rewards
ETH's potential in stablecoin and RWA narratives
Bit Digital's CEO Sam Tabar is very optimistic about replicating MSTR's model for ETH and confident about ETH reaching $10,000:
"(Establishing Ethereum reserves) We're just getting started. This is just a warm-up. Think about how Saylor issues stock to buy BTC, and then BTC keeps rising, enabling him to repeat the entire process."
Primitive Ventures, in betting on SBET, emphasized ETH's staking reward potential:
"ETH has inherent earning capacity in staking and DeFi ecosystems, a truly productive asset, which Bitcoin lacks. SBET can directly leverage ETH's on-chain mechanisms for compound growth, realizing tangible, quantifiable returns for shareholders."
Bitmine Immersion Technologies' CEO is more optimistic about ETH's potential in RWA and TradFi narratives:
"In my view, Ethereum is attractive because it's the first-layer blockchain for tokenizing real-world assets. As more things in the financial and real worlds become tokenized, financial institutions like Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and companies like Amazon and Walmart will want to stake Ethereum itself, just as they do with stablecoins. We're doing what these enterprises will do in the future."
