Major corporate Ether treasury firms are facing billions in paper losses as the cryptocurrency’s price declines sharply below their average purchase costs. BitMine Immersion Technologies, the largest corporate holder, reports $6.95 billion in unrealized losses, while SharpLink Gaming faces over $1 billion. The downturn is pressuring these companies’ ability to raise new funds and has already forced one major investor to sell a portion of its holdings at a loss.
BitMine Immersion Technologies and SharpLink Gaming are confronting significant paper losses on their Ether holdings after a market correction. BitMine holds Ether acquired at an average price of $3,883 per token, now trading around $2,240, leading to $6.95 billion in unrealized losses.
SharpLink Gaming faces $1.09 billion in paper losses after Ether fell below its average cost basis of $3,609. The decline has caused a drop in both companies’ Market Net Asset Value ratios, making it more challenging to raise funds by issuing new shares.
Asset manager Pantera Capital predicted a “brutal pruning” among crypto treasury firms in 2026, where only the best-capitalized players will survive. Despite the current downturn, this aligns with analysis from Tom Lee, chairman of BitMine and co-founder of Fundstrat Global Advisors.
Lee previously predicted an Ether drawdown to around $1,800 in the first quarter of 2026 before a market recovery. The downturn has already pressured some treasury companies to begin unwinding their positions.
Hong Kong-based Trend Research recently closed leveraged positions by selling 33,589 Ether worth $79 million at a loss. The firm borrowed an additional $77.5 million in USDT from Binance to repay its loan, according to blockchain data shared by EmberCN.
Trend Research founder Jack Yi stated the firm will await a market recovery while controlling risk. “After selling out at the top, being too early to go bullish on ETH was indeed a mistake,” he added in a social media post.
Trend Research still holds a long position worth 618,000 Ether but faces an unrealized loss exceeding $534 million. Meanwhile, leading traders tracked as “smart money” have been accumulating spot Ether during the downturn.
According to crypto intelligence platform Nansen, smart money traders acquired $38.3 million worth of spot ETH tokens in the past week. Whales and fresh wallets purchased an additional $5.47 million and $31 million, respectively.
