Trend Research Scoops Up $63 Million in ETH, Borrows $40M to Double Down on Bullish Bet
Trend Research just made a massive, leveraged bet on Ethereum's future—and they're using other people's money to do it.
The Big Swing
First, they deployed a cool $63 million to buy ETH outright. Then, in a move that screams conviction (or maybe just aggressive risk appetite), they borrowed another $40 million to buy even more. That's not just dipping a toe in the water; it's a cannonball into the deep end of the crypto pool.
Reading the Signals
This isn't casual accumulation. Borrowing to amplify a position is a classic—if risky—playbook move, signaling a firm belief that future price appreciation will outpace the cost of the debt. It turns their ETH holdings into a leveraged asset, magnifying both potential gains and losses. For a research firm, it's a powerful data point: their analysis is telling them to go big.
The Finance of It All
The strategy highlights a core tenet of modern crypto finance: assets aren't just for holding; they're collateral for the next trade. It's a world where your stack is never truly idle, always working to secure the capital for the next opportunity. Of course, it also perfectly illustrates how the crypto ecosystem happily creates complex debt instruments—because what's finance without a little leverage and the inevitable margin calls?
One firm's calculated gamble is now a headline, putting a nine-figure price tag on their bullish thesis. The market watches to see if this is genius or just another expensive lesson in volatility.
BitMine Leads Corporate Accumulation Wave
Tom Lee’s BitMine Immersion Technologies staked anotherin ETH on Sunday, bringing its two-day total toand solidifying its position as the world’s largest Ethereum treasury holder with.
BitMine has staked another $780,000,000 in $ETH today.
In just 2 days, BitMine has staked $1,000,000,000 in Ethereum. pic.twitter.com/OImgXB1108
The company disclosed on December 21 that it now controls 3.37% of Ethereum’s total supply, pushing toward its stated “” target while maintaining $1 billion in cash and 193 Bitcoin on its balance sheet.
BitMine’s BMNR stock has become the 66th most traded equity in the United States, with an average daily volume of $1.7 billion over the past five days, ranking just behind Wells Fargo and ahead of Chevron.
The aggressive staking activity follows a period of sustained accumulation that saw BitMine add 98,852 ETH in the past week alone, surpassing the 4 million ETH threshold just 5.5 months after initiating its strategy.
As covered by Cryptonews recently, DeFi analyst Abdul noted that roughly 70% of the 5% of Ethereum supply that changed hands since July was absorbed by BitMine, offsetting a large September unstaking event by staking provider Kiln following an exploit involving SwissBorg.
Institutional Outlook Points to Tenfold TVL Growth
Joseph Chalom, co-CEO of Sharplink Gaming, the second-largest public Ethereum treasury company with 797,704 ETH, forecast that Ethereum’s total value locked could rise tenfold in 2026 as stablecoin issuance targets $500 billion and tokenized real-world assets reach $300 billion.
Chalom predicted that sovereign wealth funds WOULD increase their Ethereum holdings and tokenization exposure by 5 to 10 times over the next year, driven by competitive pressure among large allocators as remaining sidelined becomes less viable.
“With more than half of all stablecoin activity currently taking place on Ethereum, sustained issuance and transaction growth could materially lift the network’s TVL,” he said.
Ethereum’s TVL currently stands at around $68.2 billion according to DeFiLlama, while the token trades NEAR $3,000 after climbing roughly 6% over the past month.
On the technical level, Analyst Ted Pillows noted that a daily close above $3,000 could push Ethereum toward the $3,200-$3,400 range, while a failure to reclaim this zone would reverse the entire pump.
$ETH has broken above the $3,000 level today.
A daily close above this zone could push Ethereum towards the $3,200-$3,400 level.
A failure to reclaim this level means ETH will reverse the entire pump. pic.twitter.com/idu8zQuCt5
ETH recovery is already proving itself against short traders. According to the data from LookOnChain, a “smart trader” pension-usdt.eth, who has achieved an 83% win rate across 70 trades and $21.84 million in total profits, recently closed an ETH short position for a $3.4 million loss after initially opening a 3× short on 20,000 ETH worth $58.44 million.
Smart trader pension-usdt.eth closed his $ETH short an hour ago, taking a $3.4M loss.
He has completed ~70 trades in total, with an impressive 83% win rate and $21.84M in total profits.https://t.co/p9479Ooqrt pic.twitter.com/R9leiWjcQC
Despite improving adoption trends, Ether remains down more than 12% over the past 12 months, prompting some crypto analysts to believe the token is unlikely to reach new highs in the near term due to broader market conditions tied to Bitcoin’s cycle.
Meanwhile, the Peter Thiel-backed ETHZilla has begun unwinding its aggressive Ethereum treasury strategy, selling $74.5 million in ETH in a clear shift away from a pure crypto accumulation model.
