Crypto treasury company Sharplink, which resumed buying Ether last week after an eight-month pause, has bought a total of $62.4 million worth of Ether since Thursday.
Onchain data from Arkham shows that after Sharplink bought 5,000 ETH on Thursday, it bought another 5,000 ETH (worth $7.9 million) on Friday, followed by 29,196 ETH (worth $46.7 million) across three over-the-counter transactions on Saturday.
Source: Lookonchain
The three-day buying spree adds to evidence that Sharplink has revived its active Ether accumulation strategy. The crypto treasury company was once a close competitor to Bitmine as the world’s largest ETH treasury company.
Sharplink declined to comment on the reason and timing of the Ether purchase when first contacted on Thursday.
Sharplink backs Ethlabs
However, the purchases came the same week that both Bitmine and Sharplink backed a new research and development nonprofit that aims to make Ethereum ready for institutional use.
Sharplink said on Monday that the organization, Ethlabs, was formed to “ready Ethereum for the next phase of institutional adoption,” with the company joining Bitmine, Ethereum co-founder and Sharplink chairman Joe Lubin and other Ethereum contributors in backing the initiative.
Related: Sharplink, Forward Industries among crypto firms considered for Russell indexes
“As stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets, funds and autonomous AI commerce move on-chain, they are converging on Ethereum as the neutral, credibly permissionless settlement layer for the global economy,” Sharplink said. “Ethlabs exists to ensure the network is ready to absorb that demand at scale.”
Ether slump
The purchases also come as the cryptocurrency is down 22.8% month-on-month, and nearly 50% compared to the start of the year, allowing Tether stablecoin USDt (USDT) to briefly surpass Ether in market capitalization last week.
Meanwhile, US spot Ether ETFs recorded their seventh week of outflows last week, recording $12.9 million in net outflows, driven mainly by withdrawals from BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA).
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