The market continues to record a powerful signal from institutional players. Last week, three major companies — Strive, BitMine, and Strategy — collectively invested more than half a billion dollars in leading crypto assets. This is not just buying on the rise, but a systematic strategy: issuing shares and converting revenue into digital assets is becoming a standard tool for corporate treasury.
What exactly the giants acquired
Strive, led by Matt Cole, added 1,800 BTC to its portfolio at an average price of $79,431. The company now holds 23,156 coins on its balance sheet, equivalent to approximately $1.83 billion. The transparency of reporting is impressive: over the week, more than 3.57 million Class A shares were issued, and the cash reserve grew to $183.5 million.
BitMine chose a different direction, focusing on Ethereum. The portfolio was expanded by 53,501 ETH, marking the 65th consecutive week of purchases since June 2025. The key bet is on yield. Through its own network of MAVAN validators, the company has staked over 5.067 million ETH, accounting for 86% of the entire portfolio. Board Chairman Tom Lee expects this strategy to generate $335–390 million in annual income. BitMine already controls 4.9% of all issued ether, and it is just 133,888 coins short of the 5% target.
Strategy also did not stand aside, resuming purchases after a ten-week pause. The company acquired 4,603 BTC at an average price of $75,412 per coin.
Demand drivers: ETFs and the macroeconomic backdrop
The reason for this activity lies in capital flows. U.S. spot bitcoin funds attracted more than $3.3 billion in August, while June saw an outflow of $4.5 billion. Ether ETFs repeated the scenario, adding about $1.75 billion after two months of outflows. The market reaction was swift: over the month, bitcoin rose by 25.7%, and Ethereum by 33.3%.
Interestingly, the money is not coming from the artificial intelligence bubble. The timeline refutes this: the most significant crash occurred in July, when the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell by 20.6% and South Korea's KOSPI by 22%. August, however, was calmer, with the Nasdaq 100 rising by 4.2%. Foreign investors withdrew 10.17 trillion won from Korean stocks, while trading volumes on Upbit increased eightfold.
The market was also supported by political factors: the U.S. President's call to pass the CLARITY bill and the Treasury's expansion of its long-term bond buyback program from $2 to $4 billion per operation.
On Monday, bitcoin was trading around $78,818. What is currently holding companies back is not the decline in the exchange rate, but the closed financing window.
My comment: We are witnessing a classic cycle of institutional convergence: ETF growth pushes the price up, and the price increases the value of stock reserves, creating a self-sustaining mechanism. The continuation of this dynamic directly depends on whether the market can hold key support levels amid seasonal volatility.