ETH drops below 1900 + Vitalik sells off, but the top ten Wall Street banks are simultaneously increasing their holdings of Bitmine stock

The founder is selling, institutions are buying. This split itself is the most noteworthy signal in the current ETH market.

Author: Lance Datskoluo

Translation: Deep潮 TechFlow

Deep潮 Guide: Vitalik has been continuously selling ETH, and this weekend he sold another $8 million worth. He describes this as a proactive financing move during Ethereum’s “gentle tightening phase.” Interestingly, at the same time, major Wall Street institutions like BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley are increasing their Ethereum exposure by buying Bitmine shares—founders are selling, institutions are buying. This split itself is the most important signal to watch in the current ETH market.

Full text below:

On-chain tracking platform Arkham data shows that Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin sold over $8 million worth of tokens from his personal wallet last weekend.

As of the time of this report, he continues to sell large amounts of ETH. On-chain data indicates he is converting ETH into stablecoins through decentralized exchange Cow Swap, with each batch reaching up to approximately $85,000.

Buterin’s sale is a continuation of his early February sale of about $7 million worth of ETH. He stated at the time that the move was to fund new projects, as Ethereum is expected to enter a “gentle tightening phase” over the next five years to achieve its goals.

Meanwhile, ETH’s price has dropped more than 60% from the August high of $4,950. This decline coincides with a broader collapse in the crypto market—market capitalization has evaporated by $2 trillion.

Buterin’s roadmap includes ensuring the long-term future of the blockchain and making Ethereum a “scalable world computer that does not sacrifice decentralization.”

In January this year, he announced plans to sell approximately 16,384 ETH, with the proceeds to be “used for these goals in the coming years.”

Over the past week, he posted multiple long articles on X covering artificial intelligence, language models, and security, hinting at greater ambitions for Ethereum.

Institutions are buying the dip

Despite the prominent figure on the blockchain selling, many well-known players are actively increasing their Ethereum holdings.

Among them are early crypto pioneer Erik Voorhees and Bitmine Chairman Tom Lee, both of whom made eight-figure purchases in the past week.

Last week, Lee cited Ethereum’s “product-market fit enhancement” as a reason for optimism, highlighting Wall Street’s push for tokenization and AI tools increasing Ethereum’s usage.

“Ethereum’s neutrality, combined with 100% uptime and reliability, clearly positions it to compete for significant market share,” he said.

The biggest Wall Street banks are also taking concrete actions to support Lee.

SEC 13-F filings show that BlackRock, Morgan Stanley, ARK Invest, Goldman Sachs, State Street, Vanguard, Bank of America, Charles Schwab, Citigroup, and BNY Mellon all increased their Bitmine holdings in Q4 2025.