Corporate hoarding of coins triggers explosion in cryptocurrency market, with Bitcoin and Ethereum approaching historical peak values.

Bitcoin and Ether both approached historical record highs on Wednesday, with investors pouring into these two major cryptocurrencies with unprecedented enthusiasm. Recently, there has been a trend of funds flowing more towards the latter. On Wednesday, Bitcoin briefly surpassed the $120,600 mark, only 2% lower than its peak in July. At the same time, Ether broke free from its slump, currently only 3% away from its 2021 bull market record. According to CoinGecko data, as the second largest cryptocurrency, Ether led the cryptocurrency market, driving the total market value of cryptocurrencies to a record high of $4.2 trillion. Ether's recent surge is thanks to two main drivers: record inflows of funds directly investing in the token, and the emergence of Ethereum special treasury institutions like mushrooms after the rain - these companies, which follow Michael Saylor's Bitcoin hoarding strategy, have collectively absorbed $17 billion worth of Ether according to StrategicEthReserve.xyz. Among them, 180 Life Sciences Corp.(ATNF.US) operating under the brand ETHZilla continued its stock price rally on Wednesday, surging nearly 80% in pre-market trading. This company, supported by billionaire Peter Thiel and transitioning from a biotechnology company to an Ethereum treasury platform, saw its stock price soar over 200% after announcing the holding of 82,186 Ether on Tuesday. Compiled data shows that since August, U.S. spot Ether ETFs have seen net inflows exceeding $1.7 billion, while during the same period, Bitcoin funds faced outflows of $436 million. Of note, on Tuesday, the trading volume of nine U.S. spot Ether ETFs surpassed twelve similar Bitcoin products for the first time. Coinglass data also shows that the size of open positions in Ether futures contracts on various exchanges has climbed to a historical peak of $66 billion. Geoff Kendrick, Global Head of Digital Asset Research at Standard Chartered Bank, wrote in a report on Wednesday, "The passage of the U.S. GENIUS Act in July cleared the way for mainstream applications of stablecoins, which is a key change. Now, stablecoins account for 40% of all blockchain transaction fees, and over 50% of stablecoins are based on the Ethereum network. With increased liquidity of stablecoins, decentralized finance (DeFi) activities will become more active - and Ether dominates in this field, so the GENIUS Act should indirectly boost the activity of the Ethereum Layer 1 network." Based on this, Standard Chartered Bank has significantly raised its Ether target price for the end of 2025 from $4,000 to $7,500.