Are South Korean retail traders the only thing keeping Ethereum treasury companies alive?
Ethereum’s ongoing underperformance in opposition to Bitcoin has reignited debate over what’s holding the asset up, and who’s actually behind its demand.
According to Bitcoin advocate Samson Mow, roughly $6 billion in South Korean retail cash is now propping up so-called Ethereum treasuries, companies 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 traders chasing the subsequent “technique play.”
According to CoinMarketCap, as of Oct. 6, ETH has slipped about 1.9% in the previous 24 hours and is down roughly 5% in opposition to 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.
Data from the Strategic ETH Reserve reveals that 67 entities, together with BitMine and SharpLink, collectively maintain about 5.49 million ETH (roughly $25 billion), or 4.5% of the whole provide.
Mow attributed a lot of this publicity to South Korean retail traders identified regionally as seohak gaemie, claiming they’ve funneled round $6 billion into Ethereum treasury companies. He argued that promoters have been advertising and marketing these corporations as the “subsequent MicroStrategy,” luring traders in search of simple analogs to Bitcoin’s company accumulation playbook:
“Many of those traders have zero thought about the ETH/BTC chart and assume they’re shopping for the subsequent technique commerce.”
He warned that enthusiasm constructed on “monetary illiteracy” might backfire, particularly as Ethereum continues to lag behind Bitcoin in relative efficiency.
Ethereum’s worth efficiency displays the concern. Despite periodic inflows and renewed narrative pushes, ETH has remained capped under its earlier all-time high of $4,946 and continues to weaken in opposition to Bitcoin. The ETH/BTC ratio has fallen by over 5% in the previous yr, reinforcing the notion that a lot of the assist for Ethereum’s market cap is narrative-driven slightly than based mostly on basic development 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 corporations. “The technicals for Ethereum are bearish,” Kang stated, including that ETH’s long-term vary might stay between $1,000 and $4,800 and not using 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 Korean retail demand turns into a brand new structural pillar for Ethereum, or the final gasp of a fading narrative, might rely upon how lengthy the “ETH treasury” story can outrun the chart.
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