BlackRock Buys $961 Million of Ethereum (ETH) in Eight-Day Accumulation

BlackRock's $3.16B Eight-Day Accumulation

BlackRock has revived its institutional accumulation at speed, with on-chain data showing the asset manager purchased roughly $3.16 billion worth of Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH) in just eight days. The iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA) accounted for 385,633 ETH — approximately $961 million — over the stretch, while the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) added 22,722 BTC worth about $2.2 billion. Both allocations were moved through Coinbase Prime, the institutional prime-brokerage platform, according to on-chain analysis of the trust wallets. The pace of buying has made BlackRock the dominant single manager across both the Ethereum and Bitcoin ETF complexes.

The Ethereum purchases extend a longer streak. ETHA recorded net inflows on nine consecutive trading days totaling $1.02 billion, expanding the fund's net assets to roughly $8.63 billion. IBIT, meanwhile, logged $2.302 billion of net inflows across nine straight trading days between August 17 and 27, lifting the value of its Bitcoin holdings to $62.29 billion at the time of writing. For readers new to these vehicles, a spot crypto ETF holds the underlying asset directly, so each net inflow translates into on-chain coin purchases by the fund's custodian.

BlackRock's yield-focused vehicle adds a further layer of demand. The iShares Staking Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHB) has taken in $130.54 million over the past two months, growing its net assets to $872 million. Since launch, ETHB has registered only one month of net outflows — $10.06 million in June — a pattern that points to sustained institutional appetite for staking-yield ETH exposure. Taken together, the value of BlackRock's entire digital-asset portfolio reached approximately $71.79 billion as of Friday.

Tom Lee's Ten-Day Warning

Tom Lee, chairman of BitMine Immersion Technologies — the largest Ethereum treasury company — warned that investors who step aside to wait for an exact market bottom routinely end up worse off. Drawing on more than a decade of crypto market history, Lee noted that missing just the ten strongest days is enough to turn an entire year's return negative, arguing that holding a consistent position captures far more upside than trying to time entries.

His remarks follow a violent mid-August advance that carried Ethereum from around $1,900 to nearly $2,600 in a matter of days — a move still traceable on the live ETH price chart. The rally added roughly $500 billion to total crypto market capitalization within days and forced large-scale liquidations of bearish short positions, with forced buybacks accelerating the climb further.

Lee framed the advance as a “course correction” in which price begins to reflect improving fundamentals. Where prior downturns featured corporate exits and shrinking usage, he pointed to expanding adoption: major financial institutions now use Ethereum as the settlement layer for tokenizing assets, with Robinhood Chain and Coinbase's Base — both Ethereum Layer 2 networks — already handling tokenized equities. He also flagged smart contract infrastructure as the key enabler for a second demand wave: AI agents transacting small, high-frequency payments that require instant machine-to-machine settlement.

BitMine itself has accumulated more than $14 billion worth of ETH and targets eventual ownership of 5% of Ethereum's total supply. The company's staking operations now generate nearly all of its revenue, as we detailed in our earlier report, Bitmine's Ethereum (ETH) Staking Revenue Hits 98% of Total Income. In Lee's view, tokenization and AI-driven demand remain underpriced at current ETH levels. Readers tracking the market in real time can follow live spot and futures prices on Bybit. Readers tracking the market in real time can follow live spot and futures prices on Bybit.

$2,508 Resistance in Focus

(as of 15:24 UTC) COINOTAG's proprietary 42-indicator composite S/R scoring engine rates the $2,442.81 resistance at 86/100 — a STRONG band driven by the confluence of a Fibonacci 0.114 level, the Ichimoku Tenkan, the Keltner Upper band and overbought Stochastic readings — with spot trading at $2,446.08, down 2.37% over 24 hours. The nearest support, $2,391.09, scores 70/100 via the S1 pivot, the Fibonacci 0.214 retracement and the ATR Lower band, with $2,260.39 next at 63/100 on the BB Middle, SMA 20, Ichimoku Kijun and Fibonacci 0.382 confluence. RSI prints 69.48, MACD signals bullish and the broader trend remains an uptrend. Derivatives positioning is mildly leverage-heavy: funding at 0.0034%, open interest near $9.44 billion and a 1.50 long/short account ratio (60.0% long), alongside a Fear & Greed reading of 68 (Greed). A daily close above $2,442.81 opens the path toward $2,516.44 and then $2,855.08; losing $2,391.09 would invalidate the near-term bullish thesis.