Crypto: Wall Street Boosts Bitmine Stakes As Defi Lenders Buckle On...

Crypto illiquidity is pressuring DeFi lending companies, but Wall Street giants continue to increase their exposure to the world’s largest Ethereum treasury company.

Large institutional investors continued to add exposure to crypto treasury companies over the past week, even as bear-market illiquidity forced another round of shakeouts across decentralized finance (DeFi).

The biggest corporate shareholders of Bitmine Immersion Technologies, including Morgan Stanley and Bank of America, increased exposure to the Ether (ETH) treasury company during Q4 2025 despite a broader market sell-off.

Still, ongoing bear-market illiquidity is forcing some protocols to wind down operations, with DeFi lender ZeroLend shutting down. Crypto analytics platform Parsec has also shuttered, citing crypto market volatility as the main reason.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) and ETH each rose about 2.6% during the past week, amid mounting outflows from US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which logged three consecutive days of selling leading up to Thursday’s $165 million outflow, Farside Investors data shows.

Ether ETFs started the week with $48 million in inflows on Tuesday, but reversed to log two successive days of outflows, including $41 million in outflows on Wednesday and $130 million on Thursday.

The largest shareholders of Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) stock increased their investments in the leading Ethereum treasury company in the fourth quarter of 2025 despite a wider crypto market crash and poor stock price performance.

Morgan Stanley, the top reported holder, increased its position by about 26% to more than 12.1 million shares, valued at $331 million at the quarter’s end, according to its Form 13F filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. ARK Investment Management, the second-biggest holder, increased its stake by about 27% to more than 9.4 million shares worth $256 million, its filing shows.

Several other top institutional holders also increased exposure. BlackRock increased its BMNR holdings by 166%, Goldman Sachs by 588%, Vanguard by 66% and Bank of America by 1,668%.

Each of the top 11 largest shareholders increased exposure to BMNR during Q4 of 2025, including Charles Schwab, Van Eck, Royal Bank of Canada, Citigroup and the Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, according to official filings compiled by crypto investor Collin.

Source: CoinTelegraph