What happened? VanEck warns that digital asset treasuries surged to about $135 billion and that ETH holders face growing dilution risk.
Companies and funds like Bitmine, SharpLink and others have been building huge ETH and BTC treasuries, driving total digital asset treasuries to roughly $135B. VanEck flagged that as fee revenue falls and staking grows, Ethereum’s economics are shifting away from fee-driven yields toward a more monetary asset, which can dilute unstaked holders. At the same time, upgrades like Fusaka and rising Layer 2 adoption could accelerate the drop in mainnet fees and push more activity—and value—off-chain.
Who does this affect? Non-staking ETH holders, institutional treasuries and market participants face the biggest impact.
Anyone holding unstaked ETH is exposed to dilution as large institutional treasuries accumulate and stake ETH to earn in-kind yield. Corporate treasuries, ETPs and public companies that use crypto as a reserve or for yield are both driving the trend and vulnerable to NAV discounts if market volatility dries up. Traders, retail investors and Layer 2 users will also feel changes in liquidity, fee dynamics and price discovery as supply incentives shift toward staked assets.
Why does this matter? Because it changes market dynamics, pricing and where capital flows in crypto.
Growing staking by big treasuries can compress returns for unstaked ETH and shift market premiums toward staked positions, altering how ETH is valued relative to BTC and other assets. Many DATs already trade below NAV and depend on volatility to keep buying—if volatility falls, those vehicles could struggle to continue accumulation, risking a painful shakeout. Overall, protocol upgrades, Layer 2 migration and institutional staking will likely reprice risk and liquidity across the crypto market, favoring assets and products that capture staking yield.