Ethereum reserves become "big miners", and the staking track may open up new growth points

Compared to pure asset appreciation, Ethereum is opening its doors to institutions in another way, not only providing stable and sustainable on-chain returns but also transforming these institutional stakers into "miners" who deeply participate in ecosystem construction and drive the entire staking track to accelerate towards compliance and scale.

Author: Nancy, PANews

As early entrants like MicroStrategy have firmly established their narrative and capital returns, new institutional players find it difficult to replicate their market recognition. More companies are turning their attention to Ethereum. Compared to pure asset appreciation, Ethereum is opening its doors to institutions in another way, not only providing stable and sustainable on-chain returns but also transforming these institutional stakers into "miners" who deeply participate in ecosystem construction and drive the entire staking track to accelerate towards compliance and scale.

Institutional Bet on Ethereum: From Asset Reserves to Staking "Big Miners"

Bitcoin has hit a new historical high, with its driving force shifting from retail investors to institutional collaboration. The approval of the Bitcoin spot ETF built a compliant bridge for Wall Street; companies like MicroStrategy listing BTC as a financial reserve asset achieved significant book value appreciation, gaining high recognition from the capital market and enhancing Bitcoin's credibility as an asset allocation, thus attracting more institutions to follow suit.

However, the Bitcoin reserve story has become mature. MicroStrategy has early positioning advantages, narrative control, and funding superiority, making its model difficult to replicate, which makes it challenging for latecomers to achieve similar brand premium and market recognition through BTC allocation. For most traditional institutions entering the market, BTC allocation is more like asset diversification rather than a growth strategy.

The new growth point and strategic window are gradually shifting towards Ethereum, with more institutions initiating ETH reserve strategies. However, Bitcoin and Ethereum have taken different paths in their reserve logic.

As is well known, in Bitcoin, newly minted BTC is directly distributed to miners through mining rewards. From a token holding perspective, if institutions are not miners, they must continuously buy BTC to maintain their relative holding proportion from being diluted. In Ethereum, since transitioning to the PoS consensus mechanism, as long as ETH is staked and network validation is participated in, new ETH can be obtained as rewards. For institutions, staking ETH can hedge against dilution risks from new ETH issuance. According to ultrasound.money data, as of July 18, 38 million ETH were staked, with stakers receiving a 2.8% annual yield, while non-stakers face approximately a 1.4% annual burn rate.

In other words, unlike Bitcoin where one buys and waits for appreciation, Ethereum reserve institutions can profit by participating in the network. Multiple listed companies have already taken action, with SharpLink Gaming, BitMine, Bit Digital, and GameSquare initiating Ethereum strategic reserve attempts with initial success. BitMine and Bit Digital have even transformed their strategic reserves from Bitcoin to Ethereum. For them, ETH is not just a book asset but a productive asset for ecosystem participation and a channel to become institutional "miners".

Ethereum's burning mechanism further strengthens this logic. When the Ethereum network is active (high transaction volume, high base fee), more ETH is burned. If burned ETH exceeds newly issued ETH, the network enters a deflationary state. This not only enhances ETH's scarcity but also increases the actual returns of stakers and validators, including MEV and transaction fee income, reinforcing ETH's intrinsic asset value.

It can be anticipated that as more institutions enter and participate in the Ethereum staking market, they will no longer be mere market fund providers but will also play the role of big miners.

Currently, Ethereum's strategic reserve layout is in its early stages, and for companies seeking to build financial narrative power, ETH remains an unmonopolized fair competition.

Ethereum Staking Enters the Institutional Era, Staking Track Welcomes New Opportunities

As the Ethereum market becomes increasingly institutionalized, the staking market will transition from crypto-native to institution-driven, moving towards a new phase of compliance and scale.

Besides Ethereum's MicroStrategy-like entities actively participating in staking through free reserve assets, ETF issuers are also accelerating their layout. In recent months, Ethereum spot ETF issuers including BlackRock, Grayscale, Fidelity, and Bitwise have all submitted applications to the SEC to add staking functionality.

Once these institutional liquidity flows in, it will further expand the market scale of the Ethereum staking track. According to defillama data, as of July 18, the Total Value Locked (TVL) in Ethereum's liquidity staking track reached $51.62 billion, near an all-time high and up 142.5% from the April low point.

According to dForce founder Mindao, Ethereum's coin and stock enterprises have two special financing conveniences. Besides using staking revenue as cash flow to support interest-bearing financing, they can also use staking revenue and on-chain DeFi operations as another dimension of valuation model, potentially offering a larger premium compared to pure NAV models. For instance, GameSquare plans to collaborate with Dialectic to invest ETH reserves in DeFi basic businesses such as lending, liquidity provision, and restaking; BTCS also uses Aave for DeFi lending. This suggests that staking and other DeFi tracks may undergo value reassessment. Meanwhile, although institutional attitudes are gradually becoming more positive, they also set high standards for protocol security, compliance, and liquidity management capabilities. Currently, many institutions have clear staking partner selection criteria. For example, 21Shares chose Coinbase as a partner in their staking application, demonstrating their requirements for compliance capabilities and technical reliability. SharpLink Gaming adopts a diversified cooperation approach, conducting staking business through Figment, Liquid Collective, and Coinbase. Such strategies indicate that institutions are placing more emphasis on risk diversification and service provider capabilities, which may further marginalize staking protocols of small and medium-sized nodes. Currently, the Ethereum liquidity staking market shows a significant head effect. According to defillama data, as of July 18, 2025, the total liquidity staking track TVL reached $51.62 billion, approaching a historical high. Among them, Lido dominates with a TVL of over $33.18 billion, capturing more than 60% market share, far ahead of other protocols. Binance, Rocket Pool, StakeWise, mETH Protocol, and Liquid Collective form the second tier, with TVLs around $1 billion. Other projects' TVLs are mostly in the tens of millions or lower. Additionally, Ethereum staking projects include EigenLayer, Swell, Renzo, Puffer Finance, SSV Network, and Pendle, covering restaking, infrastructure, and LSTfi sub-tracks. From various "micro-strategies" accelerating entry to ETF issuers continuously advancing, Ethereum's market sentiment has been ignited. However, whether the reserve narrative can continue to support the sustained development of the staking market remains to be tested by time and practice. **Disclaimer:** As a blockchain information platform, the articles published on this site represent only the personal views of the authors and guests, and are unrelated to Web3Caff's stance. The information in the article is for reference only and does not constitute any investment advice or offer. Please comply with the relevant laws and regulations of your country or region.