Data & Insights: Public Companies Buy ETH; USDC Face Fresh Challenges

OnLine(a)

• Linea, the Ethereum layer 2 (L2) network developed by Consensys, launched the LINEA token on Wednesday, September 10, 2025.
  • This resulted in the 7-day moving average (7DMA) of the number of transactions on Linea to spike up to ~401K that day, nearly double from the day prior.
  • Since then, the 7DMA for transactions on Linea have continued to increase at a rapid pace, clocking at ~715K on Sunday, its highest since July 2024.
  • Meanwhile, the 7DMA of the number of active addresses on the Linea network also surged from just 56K the day before the LINEA token launch to over 209K on Sunday, which is also the highest since September 2024.
  • Do note that it is unlikely that the entirety of these addresses are real users, given the high-profile nature of Linea’s airdrop campaigns, which likely incentivized the participation of bots and airdrop farmers.
• In terms of the token itself, LINEA has a ~$500 market cap and a fully diluted valuation (FDV) of over $2.3 billion, as of the time of writing.
  • This currently places Linea behind other Ethereum L2 networks such as Starknet and ZKsync, as well as Arbitrum and Optimism, in terms of market capitalization.

Mind The Gap

• The percentage of the total ETH supply held by public companies has been increasing at an impressive rate, now standing at 2.57%
  • For context, this figure was just 0.05% three months ago, highlighting the aggressive pace at which public companies and digital asset treasuries (DATs) have been accumulating ETH.
  • If this momentum continues, there is an increasing possibility that the share of ETH supply held by public companies could surpass that of BTC.
  • Public companies’ share of BTC currently stands at 4.03%, up from 3.58% three months ago.
• Meanwhile, public companies’ holdings of SOL have reached 0.87% of the total token supply.
  • This translates to roughly 4.71 million SOL, with the total holdings up 15% in the first two weeks of September 2025.
  • Forward Industries’ (NASDAQ: FORD) $1.65 billion PIPE deal for a SOL treasury closed last week, and on-chain evidence from Arkham suggests they have already deployed those funds over the course of the last few days.
  • Factoring this with possibly more Solana DATs launching, such as the recently announced Helius Medical Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:HSDT) that raised $500 million from Pantera Capital and Summer Capital, there is a case to be made where SOL’s corporate accumulation trajectory could mirror what occurred with ETH and its DATs, such as Bitmine and Sharplink Gaming, among others.
  • Worth noting to avoid confusion is that the $500 million Helius DAT is not related to Helius Labs, as the similarity of their names is coincidental.
  • SOL itself has been one of the best-performing tokens in September so far, having risen by over 20% at the time of writing, outpacing both BTC and ETH by a considerable margin.

Taking a Chunk Out of USDC

• Today, Circle's USDC is the second largest stablecoin with $72B in circulation. A large part of its success is its distribution relationships with exchanges, namely Coinbase, which holds the largest share at 23% of total supply, followed by Binance at 14% and Hyperliquid at 8%, according to September data from Arkham.
  • This distribution pattern reflects the stablecoin's deep integration across centralized exchanges and emerging DeFi protocols, with the top holders representing critical infrastructure for USDC liquidity and adoption.
• However, Hyperliquid’s recently announced USDH native stablecoin may challenge this narrative as they seek an issuer for it. 
  • Issuers have rushed to submit proposals, but all have one similarity. All issuers have committed to directing portions of stablecoin yield toward HYPE token buybacks rather than retaining profits.
  • This revenue-sharing model contrasts with USDC's structure, where yield generated from the $5.5 billion in holdings flows directly to Circle as operational revenue rather than being captured by the Hyperliquid ecosystem.
• Should Hyperliquid successfully transition to USDH, it would represent one of the larger shifts in stablecoin allocation among top holders in recent years.
• Circle would likely continue to rely on its distribution channels with Coinbase. USDC remains the regulatory-compliant stablecoin of choice in the US market, with Circle's adherence to existing financial frameworks providing a significant competitive advantage over emerging alternatives.

Have you Outperformed the King?

• Bitcoin has delivered solid returns in 2025, posting a 25% year-to-date performance that outpaces the S&P 500's 12.5% gain, reinforcing the cryptocurrency's appeal as a portfolio diversifier.
  • This performance validates the strategy of simply holding Bitcoin amid a challenging environment for alternative cryptocurrencies, where the proliferation of new tokens has fragmented investor attention and capital allocation.
  • The straightforward "buy and hodl" approach has proven more effective than attempting to navigate the increasingly crowded altcoin landscape, where identifying sustainable winners has become more difficult.
• Ethereum's trajectory tells a more complex story, having endured significant criticism for underperformance through much of 2024 and early 2025 before staging a turnaround.
  • Since mid-August, ETH has now officially outperformed Bitcoin on a relative basis, ultimately reaching a 40% year-to-date return that now exceeds Bitcoin's gains by 15 percentage points.
  • The shift in relative performance has raised hopes about whether Ethereum's strength signals broader ecosystem recovery or represents isolated outperformance.
• Historically, sustained Ethereum rallies have coincided with increased activity across decentralized finance protocols and onchain activity, so we’re watching carefully to see the reaction from participants.
  • There has been strong activity across protocols and chains, but nothing nearing the full-blown fervour that we’ve typically seen in previous market cycles, hopefully implying there are more opportunities for outperformance to come.

App Store Rankings Who?

• The perpetual question of "where are we in the cycle" continues to dominate crypto discourse, with commentators deploying various metrics to gauge market maturity and potential peak timing beyond traditional price analysis.
  • We talked about Bitcoin dominance a few weeks ago, and while it serves as a useful indicator for altcoin rotation timing in recent weeks, the Coinbase app store ranking offers a different lens into retail participation levels that historically signal market euphoria.
  • The metric has proven particularly valuable for identifying when mainstream retail interest reaches fever pitch, with the app's climb to the top rankings typically coinciding with cycle peaks.
• Currently sitting at 260th in the US App Store rankings, Coinbase's position suggests retail participation remains relatively muted despite recent price appreciation across major cryptocurrencies.
• This ranking might initially suggest the market is still in early stages, but historical precedent shows these rankings can shift with remarkable speed when retail sentiment changes.
  • The November 2024 memecoin surge demonstrated this volatility, with Coinbase's ranking rocketing from 480th to 12th position as speculative interest exploded across social media platforms.
  • The app ranking metric's utility lies in its ability to capture genuine retail engagement rather than institutional or sophisticated trader activity that might not reflect broader market sentiment.
• Previous cycles have shown that when Coinbase reaches the top of app store charts, it often signals maximum retail participation and potential market saturation.
• The current subdued ranking, combined with solid price performance, suggests that institutional and sophisticated money appear to be driving gains without corresponding retail FOMO. Whether this pattern holds or gives way to rapid retail re-engagement will likely determine the sustainability of this cycle and when/where we top.