Ether's drop below $1,800 has turned a broader crypto market sell-off into a test of investor confidence in Ethereum's ability to convert network growth into value for its token holders.
Ether (ETH) traded at around $1,769 at 15:00 UTC on 4 Jun, according to CoinMarketCap, extending a 25% slide over the past month that has outpaced an 11.6% drop by Bitcoin (BTC) over the same time period. The move has sharpened concerns around Ether-linked treasury strategies and forced investors to reassess how much of the market's long-term tokenization thesis is already reflected in price.
Despite the sharp decline, Standard Chartered released on 28 May a bullish long-term outlook on Ether. Geoff Kendrick, the bank's global head of digital assets research, reaffirmed Standard Chartered's Ether price targets of $4,000 by end-2026 and $40,000 by end-2030, while acknowledging the scale of the drawdown from last year's high.
In a note to clients following Strategy's first Bitcoin sale since 2022, Kendrick said the latest market action may mark the start of ETH outperformance, arguing that Ether treasury companies have less need to sell because staking yield can support their balance-sheet models.
Ether remains 64% below its August 2025 peak of around $4,900, according to CoinGecko. That tension between weakening market prices and network activity has become a central question for investors.
Treasury trade under pressure
The sell-off has placed BitMine Immersion Technologies, Ether's largest corporate treasury holder, under renewed scrutiny. The company's shares have fallen 45.46% this year with a 25.36% drop just over the past month, as the value of its ETH holdings plummeted.
The company, chaired by investor Tom Lee, holds more than 5.3mn ETH, equal to about 4.5% of the token circulating supply. The position has left BitMine sitting on more than $9bn in unrealized paper losses as ETH trades well below its average acquisition price.
BitMine responded on 3 Jun by announcing plans to sell 3mn shares of its Series A perpetual preferred stock. The instrument carries a 9.5% fixed annual dividend, paid weekly in cash when declared by the board, and is expected to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker BMNP.
The company said proceeds may be used for general corporate purposes, further ETH purchases, staking and validator infrastructure, along with common stock repurchases. The structure gives BitMine fresh financing capacity but adds recurring dividend obligations at a time when its core treasury asset is under pressure.
Ethereum thesis faces market test
BitMine's approach echoes Strategy's playbook for accumulating Bitcoin through preferred share financing, but the Ether version carries different risks.
BitMine's preferred stock has a fixed coupon. Unpaid dividends can compound weekly and step up to a cap of 15%. The company has not pledged a dedicated pool of staking income to cover payments, meaning dividends may depend on cash, staking yield, asset sales or future financing.
Standard Chartered's long-term case rests on the Ethereum network's role in stablecoins and tokenized assets. Kendrick has argued that internal metrics, including transaction counts and total value locked (TVL) in ETH terms, remain strong despite the price decline. With $38.7bn in TVL as of 4 Jun, the network accounted for more than 50% of all value locked across blockchains, according to DeFiLlama.
The market appears to be testing that thesis. Ethereum remains a key platform for tokenization and onchain settlement, but Ether's decline versus Bitcoin suggests investors are demanding clearer proof that network adoption can drive value accrual to the token.
