Crypto investment firm The Ether Machine (ETHM) has secured a fresh $654 million commitment from Jeffrey Berns, founder of Blockchains and a longtime Ethereum backer. The deal, announced Tuesday, marks one of the largest single investments into the company so far, strengthening its position ahead of a planned Wall Street debut later this year.
Berns contributed 150,000 ETH in a private transaction, expected to be transferred to the company’s wallet later this week. As part of the agreement, he will join ETHM’s board of directors once the firm completes its pending merger with Dynamix Corporation and Ether Reserve LLC.
The Ether Machine said the new funding pushes its total committed capital above $2.5 billion, making it the largest follow-on investment of any crypto treasury company to date.
Building a Massive Ethereum Treasury
Founded by former ConsenSys executive Andrew Keys, ETHM has raised more than $800 million in prior rounds, including Keys’ own anchor commitment of nearly 170,000 ETH, now valued at around $741 million.
Through the Dynamix merger, the company originally targeted $1.5 billion in fundraising with support from names such as Blockchain.com, Kraken, and Pantera Capital. The latest deal leaves ETHM with commitments for 495,362 ETH, valued at roughly $2.16 billion, with another $367 million set aside for acquisitions pending shareholder approval.
ETHM has also been steadily building its treasury through direct purchases. In August, the company bought 15,000 ETH for about $56.9 million at an average price of $3,810, coinciding with Ethereum’s 10th anniversary celebrations. With that addition, ETHM’s holdings now exceed 345,400 ETH, surpassing the Ethereum Foundation’s 231,600 ETH.
That makes ETHM the third-largest public Ethereum treasury, behind Bitmine Immersion Tech and SharpLink Gaming. The firm expects to hold as much as 400,000 ETH (about $1.53 billion at current prices) once its Nasdaq listing is complete.
Nasdaq Debut in Q4 2025
ETHM plans to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker ETHM in the fourth quarter of 2025, pending shareholder approval and regulatory clearances.
“Securing this amount of capital from a single investor—especially someone with Jeff’s depth of experience in Ethereum—is a transformative milestone,” Keys said. “Our mandate is long-term: to accumulate, compound, and support ETH not just as a financial asset, but as the backbone of a new internet economy.”
Berns echoed the vision, calling ETHM “the only institutional public vehicle purely Ethereum-focused.” He described the project’s corporate structure as well-suited for global expansion and said he was eager to work alongside Keys.
Concentration of Ethereum Holdings
The Ether Machine’s accumulation comes as Ethereum reserves are becoming increasingly concentrated among institutions and whales.
- Strategic ETH Reserve (SER) entities—including corporations, exchanges, and ecosystem players—collectively hold 4.44 million ETH ($19.1 billion), or 3.7% of total supply.
- The largest holder is Bitmine Immersion Tech with 1.8 million ETH ($7.7 billion).
- SharpLink Gaming follows with 797,700 ETH ($3.4 billion).
- ETHM and the Ethereum Foundation hold 345,400 ETH and 231,600 ETH respectively.
ETF vehicles dominate even further, locking up 6.74 million ETH ($29 billion), or 5.6% of supply. Combined, ETFs and SER entities now control over 11.1 million ETH, around 9.2% of circulating supply.
At the same time, whale activity remains active. One wallet accumulated 18,447 ETH ($81.5 million) in August, while another converted billions in Bitcoin into nearly 900,000 ETH.
Ethereum’s Market Outlook
Ethereum’s fundamentals remain strong, with August posting $320 billion in transaction volume, $135 billion in DEX trades, and $240 billion in DeFi TVL—the highest since 2021.
Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin recently suggested ETH could rise “100x,” echoing bullish calls from Fundstrat’s Tom Lee, who views Ethereum as Wall Street’s preferred digital asset over Bitcoin.
Still, with ETH struggling to hold the $4,000 level and ETF outflows totaling 36,500 ETH ($157 million) in a single day, analysts caution that liquidity shocks could test the market’s resilience this September.