Ethereum’s ongoing underperformance towards Bitcoin has reignited debate over what’s holding the asset up, and who’s actually behind its demand.
In keeping with Bitcoin advocate Samson Mow, roughly $6 billion in South Korean retail cash is now propping up so-called Ethereum treasuries, firms accumulating ETH as a balance-sheet asset echoing MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin technique. Mow issued the declare in an Oct. 5 post on X, arguing that “ETH influencers” have been flying to Seoul to court docket retail merchants chasing the subsequent “technique play.”
In keeping with CoinMarketCap, as of Oct. 6, ETH has slipped about 1.9% prior to now 24 hours and is down roughly 5% towards Bitcoin over the previous month. That weak spot, Mow recommended, exposes how short-term retail enthusiasm, slightly than institutional conviction, is sustaining Ethereum’s valuation.
Information from the Strategic ETH Reserve exhibits that 67 entities, together with BitMine and SharpLink, collectively maintain about 5.49 million ETH (roughly $25 billion), or 4.5% of the full provide.
Mow attributed a lot of this publicity to South Korean retail buyers recognized domestically as seohak gaemie, claiming they’ve funneled round $6 billion into Ethereum treasury firms. He argued that promoters have been advertising these companies because the “subsequent MicroStrategy,” luring merchants in search of straightforward analogs to Bitcoin’s company accumulation playbook:
“Many of those buyers have zero thought concerning the ETH/BTC chart and suppose they’re shopping for the subsequent technique commerce.”
He warned that enthusiasm constructed on “monetary illiteracy” may backfire, particularly as Ethereum continues to lag behind Bitcoin in relative efficiency.
Ethereum’s value efficiency displays the priority. Regardless of periodic inflows and renewed narrative pushes, ETH has remained capped beneath its earlier all-time excessive of $4,946 and continues to weaken towards Bitcoin. The ETH/BTC ratio has fallen by over 5% prior to now 12 months, reinforcing the notion that a lot of the assist for Ethereum’s market cap is narrative-driven slightly than primarily based on elementary progress or institutional adoption.
Mow’s critique aligns with feedback from Mechanism Capital co-founder Andrew Kang, who has additionally forged doubt on the monetary logic behind Ethereum-based treasuries. Kang pointed to tasks like Tom Lee’s BitMine as examples of “undisciplined treasury fashions” that lack the monetary construction seen in profitable Bitcoin-holding companies. “The technicals for Ethereum are bearish,” Kang mentioned, including that ETH’s long-term vary may stay between $1,000 and $4,800 with out a main change in fundamentals.
Kang concluded that Ethereum’s valuation “comes primarily from monetary illiteracy,” evaluating its speculative momentum to XRP’s historic rallies. He argued that whereas retail hype can maintain a big market cap for a while, it’s not a sturdy base: “The valuation that may be derived from monetary illiteracy isn’t infinite.”
Whether or not Korean retail demand turns into a brand new structural pillar for Ethereum, or the final gasp of a fading narrative, might depend upon how lengthy the “ETH treasury” story can outrun the chart.