Pro in Silicon Valley bets on Ethereum, reshaping the financial landscape

In July 2025, a regulatory document disclosed shocking news to the cryptocurrency community: a well-known investor quietly acquired 9.1% of BitMine Immersion Technologies through their affiliated entity, becoming the largest investor in this Ethereum-holding company. This news quickly triggered a market reaction, with BitMine's stock price reaching a maximum increase of 29.3% during trading on that day.

A heated discussion has erupted on social media: has this investment pro already shifted from Bitcoin to Ether? Is he planning to imitate the coin-holding strategies of other companies?

The market's volatility is not baseless speculation. Just a year ago, this investor publicly questioned Bitcoin's prospects: "Now that there is an ETF, I don't know who else will come to buy." With institutional investors already entering the market on a large scale, who can drive the next wave of trends? From betting on Bitcoin to heavily investing in Ether, what exactly is this Silicon Valley billionaire planning?

The Strategic Intent Behind Holding a Large Amount of Ether

BitMine's ambition is clear: it hopes to become an enterprise-level cryptocurrency holder of Ethereum. On July 14, 2025, BitMine held $500 million worth of Ether (163,142 ETH). Just three days later, this figure doubled to $1 billion, equivalent to 300,657 ETH. Even in the fast-changing world of cryptocurrency, this accumulation rate is astonishing.

But the pro's vision clearly extends beyond just holding enterprise-level cryptocurrencies. In 2023, the investment fund he is part of made a remarkable move: investing $200 million to purchase Bitcoin and Ether, with each accounting for half. This allocation itself conveys an important signal: Ether has already kept pace with Bitcoin.

In addition to the significant investment in BitMine, this investor's layout in the Ethereum ecosystem has quietly begun:

Trading Infrastructure: Invested in a certain exchange in 2021 and personally served as a senior advisor.

Compliance Infrastructure: Invest in regulated stablecoin issuers in 2024, continue to increase investment in 2025, and participate in investing in another company, aiming to become a payment giant in the stablecoin sector.

DeFi Infrastructure: Leading investment in on-chain derivatives projects in June 2025.

Layer 2 Scaling Solutions: Invest in scaling projects. When the mainnet transaction fees remain high, Layer 2 scaling technology is the key to making decentralized finance truly usable.

Bitcoin is seen as digital gold, while Ethereum is considered the foundation of a new financial market. An informed investor revealed that if the goal is merely value storage, buying Bitcoin is sufficient. However, if you want to take control of the future financial infrastructure, you need to invest in Ethereum.

This judgment is not groundless. While Bitcoin was still debating whether it should be a store of value or a payment tool, Ethereum has already become:

• The main battlefield of decentralized finance (locking in value of over $100 billion)
• The preferred platform for stablecoins (most stablecoins circulate on the Ethereum network)
• The underlying layer of asset tokenization

More importantly, Ethereum has the ability to generate yield, which Bitcoin does not possess. BitMine's Ethereum holding strategy precisely targets this aspect, allowing assets to generate cash flow.

The ambition of this investment pro is clearly not limited to this: supporting a certain exchange in secretly submitting an IPO application, participating in the creation of a bank specifically serving crypto enterprises (planning to hold stablecoins), and controlling the industry's discourse through a certain media platform. The overall picture is gradually becoming clear: he is no longer satisfied with simply holding assets, but wants to control the channels of asset flow.

The investment fund he is part of has gradually increased the proportion of Ethereum ecosystem projects in its blockchain investment portfolio. 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, working on building practical financial infrastructure.

Bitcoin may have won the ideological war, but Ethereum is likely to prevail in practical applications. When central bank digital currencies, corporate stablecoins, and tokenized securities become a reality, they will most likely operate on the Ethereum network.

This investor holds BitMine shares through various entities, not just making an investment, but rather preparing for future control. If BitMine becomes the largest enterprise-level Ether holder, then this investor will effectively become the shadow central bank in the Ethereum ecosystem. From early payment projects to Bitcoin, and then to Ethereum, his dream of a financial empire has remained consistent, only the tools have been evolving.

Investment funds began to position themselves when the price of Bitcoin was 1000 US dollars.

When the price of Bitcoin was still hovering around $1,000, the fund that this investor belonged to had already started building positions. According to insiders, the initial investment reached tens of millions of dollars, making it quite aggressive among institutional investors at the time.

But his ambitions are clearly not limited to this. In 2013, he invested in a company that later developed a blockchain project. Although the project ultimately failed to shake Ethereum's position, this investment revealed his true intentions: he wanted not just Bitcoin itself, but the next Bitcoin.

His layout path is even more intriguing:

Mining Field: Investing in BitMine in 2025 is just the latest move. As early as 2018, there was involvement in the financing of a certain mining company.

Trading Platform: Before investing in a certain exchange, he was an early investor in another trading platform. Compared to the regulatory approach of some platforms, this platform maintains a more cypherpunk style, which aligns well with his style.

Infrastructure: In 2021, when everyone was chasing DeFi tokens, the fund he was in quietly invested in projects that provided infrastructure for the Bitcoin Lightning Network.

His understanding of Bitcoin clearly goes beyond just the level of digital gold. In April 2021, during a conversation with former government officials, he put forward a point: Bitcoin could potentially be used by certain countries as a financial weapon to undermine the status of the US dollar.

This statement has caused a huge uproar in the cryptocurrency circle. Supporters accuse him of betrayal, while opponents believe he is promoting conspiracy theories. However, if we consider this statement within the context of his overall ideological framework, the logic becomes clear: in his view, Bitcoin is not only an investment asset but also a tool for geopolitical maneuvering, capable of taking the initiative in the new financial war.

Interestingly, just a year later, he changed his tune at a Bitcoin conference, describing Bitcoin as a revolutionary weapon against traditional financial politics. He even listed what he called an "enemy list," which included several prominent figures from the traditional finance sector.

Facing conservatives, he talks about national security. Facing the crypto community, he discusses the freedom revolution. The only constant is the core goal: to promote a new order independent of the traditional financial system. This precisely showcases his core characteristic: adept at using narrative as a weapon.

His investment strategy has yielded significant results: he timely liquidated his positions before the cryptocurrency market slumped in 2022, making a profit of 1.8 billion USD; in 2023, when Bitcoin dropped to 30,000 USD, he made another move, buying in for 100 million USD. This can be regarded as a textbook-level operation of buying low and selling high.

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 this point. In his view, the true weapon will never be an ETF product that everyone can easily purchase.

Behind every layout is an unfinished currency dream

Turning to the investment portfolio of this investor's fund, a pattern becomes clear: they almost never invest in specific applications, do not get involved in game finance, and only have a superficial interest in non-fungible tokens. What they are truly interested in are: layer two scaling solutions, compliant infrastructure, derivative protocols, and stablecoin networks. In their view, the importance of protocols outweighs that of specific products, which is their investment creed.

Back in 1998, when he was young and co-founded a payment company with his partner, what was their initial vision? It wasn't just to create a payment tool, but to invent a whole new form of currency.

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

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

In 2014, when he first seriously studied Bitcoin, he saw not just electronic cash but the currency dream he had failed to realize. In 2015, he concluded: "We live in a world where Bitcoin is unregulated while atoms are regulated." The implication is that in the digital world, you can build anything, including an entirely new financial system.

In his writings, he repeatedly emphasizes: competition is a game for losers; only monopoly can bring super profits. Early experiences made him understand that establishing a financial monopoly in the traditional world is nearly impossible. Regulation will stifle you, and big banks will encircle you. The emergence of cryptocurrency has completely 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 applications on Ethereum, owning Ether is equivalent to collecting rent. When all transactions require stablecoins, controlling stablecoin protocols is akin to holding the printing press. When regulation eventually arrives, owning a compliance license is equivalent to having the entry ticket.

He even funded key figures of the revolution. In 2014, his scholarship program gave $100,000 to the 19-year-old founder of Ethereum, which led him to decide 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 wants to position himself in both traditional banks (with traditional licenses) and decentralized finance protocols; no matter which path the future takes, he can emerge as a winner. A deeper reason may be that, in his view, cryptocurrency is not an upgraded version of a payment tool, but rather what payment systems should have become: a truly free global financial system, unregulated by any government.

Emerging Crypto Financial Empire

In 2025, he is no longer satisfied with being a passive holder of coins. Through a series of investments and strategies, he is building a complete crypto financial empire.

At this point, a question arises: why is he so aggressive while traditional financial giants are still on the sidelines? The answer may lie in that statement he made in 2015: "We live in a world where bits are unregulated and atoms are regulated."

For him, cryptocurrency is not just a financial revolution, but the ultimate tool for building an unregulated digital world. Now is the best time to place your bets.

After all, as his friend, a well-known CEO, said: "The best adventure is a calculated adventure." In this ultimate adventure of cryptocurrency, his calculations are just beginning.