Ethereum news

Bitmine Immersion Technologies has launched MAVAN, an institutional-grade Ethereum staking platform for its own holdings and external clients. The company staked 101,776 ETH recently and plans to increase allocations, with potential annual rewards nearing $300 million. Bitmine, the largest public company holder of Ether, aims to acquire 5% of the total ETH supply. The platform targets institutions and is backed by major investors like ARK Invest and Galaxy Digital. The launch reflects a broader trend of institutional demand reshaping Ethereum staking infrastructure, with other players like Lido and BlackRock also introducing tailored solutions.

BitMine Immersion Technologies, chaired by Fundstrat's Tom Lee, has launched its 'Made in America Validator Network' (MAVAN), a U.S.-based staking platform for institutions. The platform aims to enable investors to earn rewards by validating transactions on Ethereum's network, with plans to expand to other proof-of-stake networks in the future. BitMine, which holds 4.6 million Ethereum valued at $10.1 billion, claims MAVAN will soon become the world's largest Ethereum staking platform. The company has already staked 3.1 million Ethereum worth $6.8 billion, positioning itself against established players like Coinbase, which reported $22 billion in staked assets across eight cryptocurrencies in December.

Bitmine Immersion Technologies has launched MAVAN, an institutional-grade Ethereum staking platform. The company plans to stake nearly all of its remaining unstaked ETH on MAVAN, projecting annual rewards of nearly $300 million. Bitmine holds 3.86% of the total ETH supply, with its staked ETH valued at around $6.8 billion. The platform aims to serve institutional investors and expand across other proof-of-stake networks.

Traditional finance firms are increasingly embracing staked ether through new insurance-backed products structured around the Composite Ether Staking Rate benchmark. These products reframe staked ETH as an institutional yield product rather than a speculative crypto experiment. The CESR benchmark provides a standardized reference rate, while insurance policies guarantee returns and protect against slashing risks. This makes staking risk legible and transferable for cautious institutions accustomed to risk-adjusted frameworks. With insurance-backed staking, institutions can now structure products like capital-protected notes and delta-neutral strategies. This shift allows TradFi firms to participate in Ethereum's infrastructure yield while meeting compliance requirements.

Bitmine Immersion, chaired by Tom Lee, has increased its Ethereum holdings to 4,660,903 ETH (worth about $10 billion) after acquiring 65,341 ETH last week. The company's total crypto and cash holdings now stand at $11 billion. Lee stated that Ethereum is in the final stages of a 'mini-crypto winter' and noted crypto's outperformance during recent geopolitical tensions. Bitmine remains the largest Ethereum treasury holder, staking over 3.1 million ETH for annual rewards of about $272 million. Bitmine is the second-largest public crypto treasury overall, behind Michael Saylor's Strategy, and aims to acquire 5% of Ethereum's circulating supply. The company is backed by institutional investors including Ark Invest and Founders Fund.

BlackRock's iShares Staked Ethereum Trust (ticker ETHB) opened on Nasdaq on March 12 and amassed $254 million in assets under management in its first week, including $146 million of new investor money on top of a $100 million seed. The fund stakes 70‑95 % of its ETH holdings, passes 82 % of staking rewards to shareholders via monthly payments and charges a 0.25 % sponsor fee (0.12 % for the first year up to $2.5 billion). Validators include Figment, Galaxy Blockchain Infrastructure and Attestant, and the product joins existing offerings from Grayscale and REX‑Osprey as Ethereum trades around $2,126.

Bitcoin slipped below $70,000 amid inflation surprises, hawkish Fed signals and rising oil prices, prompting a broader risk‑off move. A Bitcoin OG sold 1,000 BTC worth about $72 million, adding to prior transfers of 3,500 BTC to Binance and generating roughly $330 million profit while still holding 1,500 BTC. Early investor Owen Gunden also off‑loaded 650 BTC for $46.3 million.

Amundi, Europe’s largest asset manager, launched a $100 million tokenized fund called the Spiko Amundi Overnight Swap Fund (SAFO) on Ethereum and Stellar, its second blockchain‑based issuance in five months. Structured as a tokenized sub‑fund of SPIKO SICAV, the fund targets corporate and financial institution treasury and collateral needs, offering fully collateralized total‑return swaps in EUR, USD, GBP and CHF. The SAFO fund provides near‑instant settlement, multi‑currency subscription and redemption, real‑time shareholder register transparency and 24/7 borderless transferability via API or smart contracts. Amundi acts as delegated investment manager, CACEIS as depositary, Spiko as transfer agent and broker, and Chainlink records the NAV on‑chain. It is presently available to professional investors with plans to expand access.

Ethereum's Estimated Leverage Ratio on Binance has reached a record high of 0.751, indicating over 75% of trading uses leverage. This surpasses levels seen before a major market downturn in October last year, signaling increased liquidation risk. Analysts warn that such high leverage often leads to sharp price swings, as minor movements can trigger cascading liquidations. While open interest has risen, it remains below previous peaks, and declining exchange reserves due to staking may also be inflating the ratio.

Zenith, a newly launched blockchain execution layer, announced successful atomic swaps between the Canton Network and its EVM, demonstrating that Ethereum‑style smart contracts can operate on Canton's institution‑grade infrastructure which processes over $9 trillion monthly. Canton, a privacy‑enabled L1 backed by firms such as Goldman Sachs and Microsoft, currently relies on Daml, limiting broader developer adoption. Zenith’s EVM integration aims to let Solidity contracts interact directly with regulated finance, processing over 100,000 EVM transactions with 0.4‑1.5 second latency. Canton plans broader language support via WebAssembly.