Silicon Valley investment giants are making a big push into the Ethereum ecosystem, seeking to build a new financial system

In July 2025, a bombshell news exploded in the crypto circle: a certain technology investment giant quietly acquired a 9.1% stake in BitMine Immersion Technologies, becoming the largest investor in this Ethereum treasury. After the announcement, BitMine's stock price surged, reaching a maximum intraday increase of 29.3%.

The market reacted strongly to this, with some questioning whether this investment giant has turned from Bitcoin to Ether, even speculating that he intends to replicate the coin-holding strategy of a certain well-known company. In fact, just a year ago, this investor publicly questioned the future prospects of Bitcoin. From Bitcoin to heavily investing in Ether, what exactly does this Silicon Valley billionaire mean?

Strategic Intent Behind Holding Large Amounts of Ethereum

BitMine's goal is clear: to create an Ethereum-based corporate treasury. On July 14, 2025, BitMine held 163,142 ETH, valued at $500 million. Just three days later, this number doubled to 300,657 ETH, worth $1 billion. Even in the rapidly changing world of cryptocurrency, such a rapid accumulation rate is rare.

However, the investment giant's layout goes far beyond this. As early as 2023, its fund had invested $200 million to purchase Bitcoin and Ether, each accounting for half. This allocation itself released an important signal: Ethereum has now equaled Bitcoin.

In addition to the important piece BitMine, this investor has quietly begun to lay out their plans in the Ethereum ecosystem:

• Trading infrastructure: Invested in a certain exchange in 2021 and served as a senior advisor
• Compliance Infrastructure: Invest in regulated stablecoin issuers in 2024, and continue to increase investment in the stablecoin sector in 2025.
• DeFi Infrastructure: Leading the project specializing in on-chain derivatives in June 2025.
• Layer-2 scaling: Invest in scaling solutions to address the high gas fees on the mainnet.

Industry insiders analyze that Bitcoin, as digital gold, is primarily used for value storage. In contrast, Ethereum represents the emerging financial market infrastructure. Controlling this infrastructure means mastering the discourse power of future finance.

In fact, Ethereum has become the main battlefield for DeFi, with a locked value of over $100 billion; it is also the preferred platform for mainstream stablecoins and the foundational layer for the tokenization of real-world assets. More importantly, Ethereum has yield-generating capabilities, which is an advantage that Bitcoin does not possess.

The ambition of this investment giant is clearly not limited to this. By participating in exchange IPOs, supporting banks that specifically serve crypto enterprises, and controlling the discourse of industry media, he is building a complete crypto financial ecosystem. From holding assets to controlling the channels of asset flow, this investor's strategy is gradually upgrading.

If the years 2014-2022 were his Bitcoin era, focusing on value storage and ideological narratives, then after 2023, he officially enters the Ethereum era, dedicated to building practical financial infrastructure.

When central bank digital currencies, corporate stablecoins, and tokenized securities become a reality, they will likely all run on Ethereum. By diversely holding shares in BitMine through various entities, this investor is not only investing but also laying the groundwork for future control. If BitMine becomes the largest corporate holder of Ethereum, he will essentially become the shadow central bank of the Ethereum ecosystem. From early payment innovations to Bitcoin and then to Ethereum, this investment giant's dream of a financial empire has remained consistent, only the tools have continued to evolve.

The layout began in the thousand-yuan era of Bitcoin

When Bitcoin was still hovering around $1,000, a well-known fund had already begun to build its position. According to insiders, the initial investment reached tens of millions of dollars, which was considered aggressive among institutional investors at that time.

This investor's ambitions do not stop there. In 2013, he invested in a project that later developed a public chain. Although the project ultimately failed to shake Ethereum, this investment revealed his true intentions: he is looking for the next Bitcoin.

His layout path is intriguing:

• Mining End: The investment in BitMine in 2025 is just the latest move, having participated in a certain mining project financing as early as 2018.
• Trading platform: In addition to a recent exchange, an early investment was also made in another trading platform that maintains a crypto-punk style.
• Infrastructure: In 2021, when everyone was chasing DeFi tokens, he quietly invested in projects that provided infrastructure for the Bitcoin Lightning Network.

This investor's understanding of Bitcoin goes far beyond the simple notion of digital gold. In April 2021, during a conversation with a former political figure, he suggested that Bitcoin could be a financial weapon used by a certain country to undermine the US dollar.

This statement has caused a huge uproar in the crypto community. Supporters accuse him of betrayal, while opponents believe he is promoting conspiracy theories. However, when this statement is placed within the context of his overall ideological framework, the logic becomes clear: Bitcoin is not only an investment asset but also a tool of geopolitical strategy, capable of taking the initiative in the new financial wars.

Interestingly, just a year later, he changed his tune at the Bitcoin conference, describing it as a revolutionary weapon against the financial old guard. He even listed a so-called "enemies list," which included a well-known investor and the CEOs of several major banks.

Facing the conservatives, he speaks of national security; facing the crypto community, he talks about a revolution of freedom. What remains unchanged is the core goal: to promote a new order independent of the traditional financial system. This precisely demonstrates his core trait: using narrative as a weapon.

The results are remarkable: timely liquidation before the crypto winter in 2022, yielding a profit of 1.8 billion USD; in 2023, when Bitcoin fell to 30,000 USD, they acted again, buying 100 million USD. It can be called a textbook example of high selling and low buying.

It is worth noting that in July 2024, when the Bitcoin ETF is launched and institutional funds are pouring in, he openly stated that he was uncertain whether Bitcoin would see a significant increase from here. This seems to suggest that the real opportunity may not lie in the ETF that everyone can buy.

Unfulfilled Currency Dreams

Opening the investment portfolio of this investor's fund reveals a clear pattern: hardly any investment in DApps, no involvement in GameFi, and only a superficial engagement with NFTs. What truly interests him are: Layer 2 scaling solutions, compliant infrastructure, derivative protocols, and stablecoin networks. Protocols over products is his investment creed.

Tracing back to 1998, what was their initial vision when he and his partner founded a payment company? It was not to create a payment tool, but to create a new form of currency.

As early as ten years before the birth of Bitcoin, he was thinking about how to disrupt the monetary system. They even developed a handheld application that could transmit digital cash via infrared. Ultimately, due to regulatory pressure, they had to transform into a traditional payment company.

In 2002, a certain e-commerce giant acquired this payment company for $1.5 billion. The first thing he did after cashing out was to establish a new investment firm, systematically looking for the next currency revolution opportunity. He waited for 12 years.

In 2014, when he first seriously studied Bitcoin, what he saw was not electronic cash, but an unfulfilled dream of currency from earlier years. In 2015, he concluded: "We live in a world where Bitcoin is unregulated and atoms are regulated." The implication is: in the digital world, you can build anything, including an entirely new financial system.

In his writings, he repeatedly emphasizes: competition is the game of losers, only monopoly can bring excessive profits. Early payment experiences taught him that establishing a financial monopoly in the traditional world is nearly impossible. Regulation will stifle you, and big banks will encircle you. But cryptocurrency has changed the rules of the game.

How to establish a monopoly in a decentralized world? The answer is: control the underlying infrastructure. When everyone is building on Ethereum, owning Ethereum is equivalent to collecting rent. When all transactions require stablecoins, controlling stablecoin protocols is equivalent to printing money. When regulation finally arrives, owning a compliance license is equivalent to having the entry ticket.

He even funded key figures of the revolution. In 2014, a project of his provided $100,000 in funding to the 19-year-old founder of Ethereum, prompting him to drop out of university and develop Ethereum full-time. In a sense, he not only invested in the infrastructure but also in the talent that builds the infrastructure.

This explains why he is laying out plans for both traditional banks and DeFi protocols; no matter which path the future takes, he is a winner. The deeper reason may be that, in his view, cryptocurrency is not payment 2.0, but rather how payment innovation should have been in its early years: a truly free global financial system that is not controlled by any government.

The prototype of the crypto empire has emerged

In 2025, this investment giant is no longer satisfied with being a passive holder of coins. Through BitMine, a certain exchange, a certain bank, and several other entities, he is building a complete crypto financial empire.

Why is he so aggressive while traditional financial giants are still watching? Perhaps the answer lies in his words from 2015: "We live in a world where bits are unregulated and atoms are regulated."

For him, cryptocurrency is not only a financial revolution but also the ultimate tool for building an unregulated Bitcoin world. Now is the time to bet.

After all, as his friend, the CEO of a certain electric vehicle company, said: "The best adventure is a calculated adventure." In this ultimate adventure of cryptocurrency, the calculations of this Silicon Valley investment giant have just begun.