As demand increased from investment funds and corporate buyers, the ether reserves of centralized exchanges fell to their lowest levels in three years.
Data from Cryptoquant shows that since peaking at around 28.8 million in September 2022, reserves have fallen nearly 10.7 million. Currently, its holdings are around 17.4 million ETHs, with around 2.5 million ETHs leaving the exchange in the past three months alone.
The reduction in supply is due to new channels of ether exposure gaining traction. According to Coinglass data, Spot ETH Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFS), launched in July 2024, has since attracted more than $13 billion in net inflows. Between June and August, funds gained more than $10 billion in net inflows.
The corporate Ministry of Finance is also promoting demand. Several public companies have announced the ETH Treasury Department over the past few months, with regular company purchases affecting the supply of tokens on exchanges.
Related: Who owns the most ether in 2025? Eth Rich list revealed
ETH Ministry of Finance is increasing
Sharplink Gaming appeared in 2025 as one of the early public companies to pivot reserves into ether. Supported by a private placement of $425 million, it reached 797,704 ETH in May, worth around $3.5 billion in this writing.
In July, Bitmine Immersion Technologies also joined in this trend, revealing that approximately 1.86 million ETH had accumulated. This is about 1.5% of the total supply of tokens. The third major entrant, Ether Machine, announced its holdings and upcoming NASDAQ list at ETH of September 495,000.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef3wcsss75qy
According to data from Ethereum Treasuries, 17 stock-traded companies are known to hold ether on their balance sheets and have comprehensive control over ETH of over 3.6 million people.
One of the key attractions of ETH as a reserve asset is its ability to acquire yields, a Bitfinex analyst told Cointelegraph. “Unlike Bitcoin, ETH is both a macro asset and a productivity asset, generating yields by staking and securing more than $100 billion in tokenized assets across L2S and Defi.”
Staking is the process of securing a blockchain network and locking cryptocurrency to earn rewards paid with the same token in return.
On Tuesday, Ethereum’s staking entry queue rose to its highest level since 2023, with 860,369 ETHs waiting for around $3.7 billion worth of its value.
Related: As liquid supply decreases, piling Ethereum hits 35m ETH
ET to move to ETF
Along with the corporate Treasury, ether is also absorbed into spot exchange trade funds (ETFs). The product got off to a slow start after its debut in the US in 2024, but demand recovered in July this year to support new institutional benefits as a more friendly regulatory environment for crypto assets.
That surge is led by BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum ETF (ETHA). It will become one of the fastest growing ETFs on record, with assets of over $16 billion on Tuesday.
According to CoinMarketCap data, Spot ETH ETF collectively holds approximately $24 billion in assets (AUM) under its control.
Some analysts believe that demand reflects more than short-term speculation. Fabian Dori, Chief Investment Officer at Sygnum, recently told Cointelegraph:
After a long period of unperformance compared to bitcoin and sour investors’ sentiment, Ethereum has recently experienced a major revival, recognising both its adoption rate and its value proposition.
According to Dori, staking is the next frontier after etheric ETFs. “If Spot ETH ETFs are allowed to wager their holdings, the ability to acquire additional yields within established, regulated, exchange trade structures could make these products more attractive and attract additional assets.”
Naturally, some ETF issuers have recently moved to add staking capabilities to their ether funds.
BlackRock submitted to the Ishhales Ethereum ETF via the Nasdaq to add staking to the Ishhales Ethereum ETF, but Fidelity revised its Spot Ether ETF proposal to stake some of its assets.
The SEC is expected to control staking functions by October, when the final application deadline comes.
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