Tom Lee’s Ethereum treasury company keeps buying the second-biggest crypto through the downturn, while more than 5 million staked ETH is projected to generate $287 million in annual rewards. Tom Lee’s Bitmine Immersion Technologies, an Ethereum treasury company, resumed its Ether purchases last week, bringing it closer to a key business target of owning 5% of the second-biggest cryptocurrency’s supply despite challenging market conditions. The company disclosed Monday that it acquired 9,926 Ether (ETH) during the week ending Aug. 16, bringing its total holdings to roughly 5.82 million ETH, or about 4.8% of Ethereum’s circulating supply. At an ETH reference price of $1,893, Bitmine’s Ether holdings were valued at roughly $11 billion. However, much of the company’s ETH was acquired at significantly higher prices. Ether’s price was little changed on Monday, sitting just above $1,900. Read more
The Hegotá upgrade aims to introduce more native privacy for Ethereum applications. Ethereum developers are currently reviewing 66 proposals to narrow them down as part of scoping the next major Ethereum upgrade, Hegotá, with several proposals aimed at bringing more privacy capabilities into the protocol. FOCIL is currently the only Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) scheduled for inclusion in the upgrade. Frame Transactions (EIP-8141), Keyed Nonces (EIP-8250) and Recent Roots for Frame Transactions (EIP-8272) should also be included to “unlock native privacy, allowing privacy apps to work without having to rely on intermediaries,” wrote Ethereum Foundation contributor Toni Wahrstätter in a Sunday X post. FOCIL, short for Fork-choice enforced inclusion lists, seeks to allow a committee of validators to force pending transactions into blocks to boost the network’s censorship resistance, while the other proposals could provide protocol primitives for privacy applications. Read more
Fidelity plans to add staking to its Ether fund, with 85% of rewards retained by FETH and quarterly cash distributions planned for investors. Fidelity Investments plans to add staking to its spot Ether exchange-traded product, the Fidelity Ethereum Fund (FETH), according to its Tuesday filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The asset manager said FETH could stake up to 100% of its Ether under normal conditions, excluding ETH reserved for redemptions, expenses and liquidity needs. The fund would retain 85% of staking rewards, with 15% going toward staking fees, and plans quarterly cash distributions, although payouts are not guaranteed. Fidelity expects staking to begin “as soon as practicable” after the prospectus date. The preliminary prospectus remains subject to change before the registration statement becomes effective. Read more