Ether Soars in Massive Rally — Is Altcoin Season Finally Here?Bitcoin who? Move over, orange coin. It's the alt season and Ethereum and its crew of alternatives are here to party.
🚀 Ether Edges Toward All-Time High
Ethereum BITSTAMP:ETHUSD is all the game in crypto town right now. Prices climbed another 3% early Thursday, cruising past $4,750 and now just some $100 away from the 2021 record high. The last time Ether was here, NFTs were still making headlines for selling pixelated rocks.
But this one is different (yes, it really is different this time) — it’s institutional validation driving the breakneck rally.
The spark? A mix of deep-pocketed corporate treasury moves, a flood of ETF inflows, and a billionaire with a knack for backing winning tech plays. Everyone, give it up for Ether Peter — PayPal NASDAQ:PYPL and Palantir NASDAQ:PLTR co-founder Peter Thiel, out there betting on Ethereum treasury firms.
🦖 ETHZilla: From Biotech to Blockchain
The biggest headline driver this week is ETHZilla — also known as 180 Life Sciences NASDAQ:ATNF . In a plot twist worthy of a streaming docuseries, the California-based biotech firm drops the lab coats and rebrands into an Ethereum treasury powerhouse.
Earlier this week, ETHZilla announced it had scooped up 82,186 ETH at an average price of $3,806.71, now valued at about $349 million. The stock tripled on Tuesday, sending its market cap to $1.6 billion.
The company funded its transformation with $156 million from convertible notes and $425 million via a private placement involving more than 60 institutional and crypto-native investors.
Oh, and they got Peter Thiel’s stamp of approval — his Founders Fund disclosed a 7.5% stake in ETHZilla just as the Ether shopping happened.
🏦 BitMine and the $24.5B Goal
If ETHZilla is the new kid on the block, BitMine AMEX:BMNR is the neighborhood whale. This Ethereum treasury giant holds $5 billion in tokens and just filed paperwork with the SEC to potentially raise another $24.5 billion.
The ambition? Accumulate 5% of Ethereum’s total supply — about 6 million Ether coins, worth roughly $26.5 billion at today’s prices. For context, that’s like buying a decent slice of the entire network and then staking it for dessert.
Peter Thiel’s involvement here isn’t small either — Founders Fund disclosed a 9.1% stake in BitMine. Clearly, he’s betting big on Ethereum’s next chapter.
📈 ETFs Overflowing
The timing couldn’t be better. US spot Ethereum ETFs are in on it, breaking records, with over $1 billion in daily inflows for the first time this Monday. Since April 9 — some call it Liberation Day, but for some it's Liquidation Day — Ether BITSTAMP:ETHUSD has rocketed up 240%, while Bitcoin BITSTAMP:BTCUSD has pulled together a comparatively modest 60% gain.
The message from the market is loud and clear: altcoin season is back on the menu.
💼 Corporates Join the ETH Treasury Club
Public companies are now mimicking the MicroStrategy NASDAQ:MSTR Bitcoin playbook — except this time, the ticker is BITSTAMP:ETHUSD .
Fundamental Global, a small-cap reinsurer, surprised the market by filing an S-3 registration to raise up to $5 billion for Ethereum purchases.
Traders and investors didn’t love the dilution risk — the stock cratered 48% after the announcement — but management insists this is a long-term accumulation strategy.
They’ve already closed a $200 million private placement to get started, aiming for a 10% stake in the Ethereum network (yes, seriously) through staking, restaking, and other DeFi strategies. CEO Kyle Cerminara says this move “positions ETH as a core corporate asset.”
🐋 Whales Making Waves
Fundamental Global isn’t alone. In July, SharpLink Gaming NASDAQ:SBET added 77,210 ETH — a $295 million buy — and this week followed up with another $400-million purchase, bringing total holdings to nearly 600,000 ETH worth over $2.6 billion.
GameSquare NASDAQ:GAME also jumped in, announcing in July that it would build an ETH treasury rather than a Bitcoin one. The company raised $8 million to kickstart a $100 million phased buying plan.
🌊 Altcoins Catch the Updraft
It’s not just Ethereum feeling the love. Altcoins are getting swept along for the ride:
Solana COINBASE:SOLUSD cracked $200, up 25% over the past week.
XRP BITSTAMP:XRPUSD gained 12% in the same stretch.
Dogecoin COINBASE:DOGEUSD — because of course — surged 24%.
Chainlink COINBASE:LINKUSD stood out as a top performer, rising over 45% last week. Its boost comes after launching the Chainlink Reserve, now holding $1.5 million worth of LINK tokens.
When the big alt moves, the smaller ones often follow. Traders call it correlation. Cynics call it FOMO.
🔍 The Bigger Picture
Ethereum’s market cap now sits at around $570 billion. The combination of corporate treasuries, ETF flows, and growing DeFi infrastructure is creating a bullish cocktail not seen since the last altcoin cycle.
But let’s not forget the fine print: Ether’s price is heavily momentum-driven right now. The $4,700 level is a psychological barrier, and a retest of the $4,500 range could still happen before a breakout to new highs.
For long-term holders, the story isn’t just about charts, but also about Ethereum’s growing role as a corporate and institutional asset, something Bitcoin pioneered but Ether may now be refining.
Off to you : Now that altseason’s kicked off, how’s your portfolio looking? Are you holding any small-cap moonshots? Or you’re on team Ether? Share your strategy in the comments!
