Ethereum Surges 15% Above $2,100 as Trump Speech Boosts Sentiment and ETFs Draw $157M Inflows

Ethereum rose 15% this week to trade above $2,100 after US President Donald Trump's State of the Union address praising the economy revived risk appetite, with investors allocating $134 billion to cryptocurrencies following his Tuesday speech, CoinGecko data show. Ethereum exchange-traded funds logged $157 million in purchases on Wednesday, marking their strongest single session since January 15, DefiLlama data show. Wall Street institutions including BlackRock, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, State Street, Vanguard, Bank of America, Charles Schwab, Citi and Bank of New York Mellon increased their stakes in Bitmine, the largest Ethereum treasury firm, in the fourth quarter of 2025, even as Bitmine shares remain about 60% lower since October's mass liquidations, according to SEC 13F filings cited by DL News. Bitmine disclosed it bought another $106 million of Ethereum on Monday, taking its holdings above $9 billion after weekly purchases of up to 50,000 tokens and $370 million accumulated in February, while Ethereum still trades nearly 60% below its August peak of $4,950 and Standard Chartered projects a possible 30% slide toward $1,400 in the coming months.