Ethereum at $250,000? Trump speech ignites price rally as ETFs gain $157m

Ethereum’s price rallied 15% this week breaking $2,100 after US President Donald Trump reignited market sentiment with a State of the Union address praising the economy.

Investors funnelled $134 billion into cryptocurrencies after Trump’s speech to Congress on Tuesday, CoinGecko data shows.

On Wednesday, traders bought $157 million worth of stakes in Ethereum exchange-traded funds, the best single day since January 15, DefiLlama data shows.

The positive price action comes as Wall Street has quietly increased their exposure to the $250 billion blockchain network by buying up shares in Bitmine, the largest Ethereum treasury firm.

“Despite Ethereum being down significantly off its highs, there is continued adoption from Wall Street,” Kevin Lepsoe, CEO and co-founder of ETHGas, told DL News.

BlackRock, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, State Street, Vanguard, Bank of America, Charles Schwab, Citi, and Bank of New York Mellon, all boosted their holdings of Bitmine shares in the fourth quarter of 2025, 13-F filings with the SEC show.

In January, BlackRock said that Ethereum will lead the tokenisation of real-world assets. CEO Larry Fink described tokenisation as necessary while speaking on a World Economic Forum panel in Davos, Switzerland.

Tom Lee, the chair of Bitmine who predicts that the price for Ethereum will hit $250,000, has praised the heavy institutional accumulation.

Yet, Bitmine’s share price has been hammered some 60% since the October mass liquidations.

Bitmine keeps buying

Bitmine announced it purchased another $106 million of Ethereum on Monday, bringing its total holdings to over $9 billion.

The digital asset treasury firm has been making weekly purchases of up to 50,000 Ethereum tokens and scooped up $370 million worth in February.

On Wednesday, Lee appeared to poke fun at Bitmine’s buying spree, which has left the firm nearly $7 billion underwater. “These Ethereum bags are heavy,” he said on X, while posting a GIF.

“Bitmine is set up for one of the largest, most profitable trades in history,” Lepsoe said.

To be sure, Ethereum’s price is still down nearly 60% from its August peak of $4,950, against the backdrop of a crypto industry downturn that has vaporised $2 trillion in value. It is also down some 30% over the past 30 days.

Standard Chartered expects Ethereum to shed 30% of its price and drop to $1,400 over the next few months.

The UK bank projected Ethereum’s price to hit $4,000 by the end of the year, down from previous prognoses of a $7,500 finish.

Even so, Sam Tabar, the chief executive of Ethereum treasury Bit Digital, shared an optimistic outlook for digital asset firms with DL News.

“Periods like this often help distinguish between fleeting speculation and enduring utility, and our focus – similar to Tom Lee’s — is to support the parts of the ecosystem that create lasting value,” he said.

Crypto market movers

• Bitcoin is up 4.2% over the past 24 hours, trading at $68,301.
• Ethereum is up 8.3% past 24 hours at $2,068.

What we’re reading

• Strategy becomes the most shorted stock as Bitcoin price soars near $70,000 — DL News
• Bitcoin to $50,000? Strategy buys top crypto despite ghoulish price forecast as Citrini AI report rattles markets — DL News
• Meta Eyes Stablecoin Return, This Time at Arm’s Length — Unchained
• Has Bitcoin Lost Its “Digital Gold” Status for Good? w/ Ran Neuner — Milk Road
• Revolut joins financial watchdog’s stablecoin sandbox as UK rushes to catch up to US — DL News

Lance Datskoluo is DL News’ Europe-based markets correspondent. Got a tip? Email him at lance@dlnews.com.