Major players in the traditional financial sector have once again made their presence known in the digital asset market. This week, three companies — Strive, BitMine, and Strategy — announced significant acquisitions of Bitcoin and Ethereum, collectively exceeding the half-billion-dollar mark. These are not one-off deals but part of a well-thought-out business strategy where share issuance is directly converted into cryptocurrency reserves.
Notably, the purchases are being made at a time when the market is showing steady growth. For these entities, this is not a chase for short-term gains but systematic work: they issue new shares during peak demand periods and immediately channel the proceeds into replenishing their cryptocurrency treasuries.
What exactly did the giants buy
The Strive fund, led by CEO Matt Cole, increased its portfolio by 1,800 bitcoins (BTC), purchased at an average price of $79,431. The company now holds 23,156 BTC on its balance sheet, equivalent to approximately $1.83 billion. The company operates with maximum transparency: over the week, more than 3.57 million new Class A shares were issued, and the cash reserve grew by $11.6 million, reaching $183.5 million.
BitMine took a different path, betting on Ethereum. Its portfolio grew by 53,501 ETH, marking the 65th consecutive week of purchases since June 2025. BitMine's key strategy is maximizing yield. Through its own American validator network MAVAN, the company has staked over 5.067 million ETH, accounting for 86% of its entire portfolio. Board Chairman Tom Lee expects this strategy to generate annual income of $335–390 million. Currently, BitMine controls 4.9% of all issued ether, and it is 133,888 coins short of its 5% target.
Strategy rounded out the week of purchases by resuming Bitcoin accumulation after a ten-week pause, adding 4,603 BTC. Unlike BitMine, Strategy discloses its average purchase price — currently $75,412 per coin.
ETF money turned around before portfolio investors
The trigger for such decisions was powerful inflows into exchange-traded funds. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted over $3.3 billion in August, after $4.5 billion flowed out in June. Ether funds repeated this scenario, adding about $1.75 billion after two months of outflows. The market response was swift: over the month, Bitcoin rose 25.7%, and Ethereum gained 33.3%.
This scheme works as a closed loop: demand for funds pushes coin prices up, rising coins increase the value of fund reserves, and selling reserves again allows buying more coins.
Other changes in August
Based on my observations, over the past week, $3.2 billion flowed into crypto funds — the largest weekly inflow since October 2025. Many attribute this to capital shifting from the artificial intelligence bubble, but the timeline does not support that theory. The most significant crash occurred in July: the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 20.6%, and South Korea's KOSPI dropped 22%. August, however, was calmer: the Nasdaq 100 gained 4.2%.
Capital reallocation is also visible in other areas: foreign investors withdrew 10.17 trillion won from Korean stocks, and trading volumes on the country's largest exchange, Upbit, rose roughly eightfold. The U.S. also supported the market: on August 19, President Donald Trump urged Congress to pass the CLARITY bill, with a Senate vote scheduled for September 15. The same day, the U.S. Treasury expanded its long-term bond buyback program from $2 billion to a minimum of $4 billion per operation.
On Monday, Bitcoin traded around $78,818. Currently, companies are held back not by a falling coin price but by a closed funding window.
My conclusion: we are witnessing a classic institutional cycle where corporate treasuries use the high liquidity of the stock market to build up cryptocurrency reserves. As long as this mechanism works without disruption, corrections will be bought up, and the long-term trend will remain upward.