Ethereum breaks through $4000! Vitalik Buterin returns to billionaire status, ETH short-term may hit historical highs.

As the price of Ethereum successfully broke through the $4000 mark and continued to rise, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin's on-chain asset valuation returned to over $1 billion. Market analysts are generally optimistic about the short-term trend of ETH, believing that the challenge of the historical high of $4878 is within reach. At the same time, the inflow of funds into Ethereum Spot ETFs is strong, even surpassing Bitcoin ETFs, indicating that institutions are gaining confidence in ETH's future. However, Vitalik Buterin himself expressed concerns about institutions excessively leveraging their ETH holdings.

Vitalik Buterin on-chain assets exceed 1 billion, with ETH holdings as the core According to the latest data from blockchain intelligence company Arkham, after the price of Ethereum broke $4000, Vitalik Buterin's (V神) on-chain wallet assets have soared to approximately $1.04 billion. His core holding is 240,042 ETH. In addition, his crypto asset allocation also includes a small amount of other tokens, such as Aave Ethereum (AETHWETH), WhiteRock (WHITE), Moo Deng (MOODENG), and Wrapped Ethereum (WETH).

ETH strongly breaks through 4300 USD, hitting historical highs is in sight The price of Ethereum continued its strong rising momentum over the weekend. After successfully reclaiming the key psychological level of $4000 on Friday, it climbed another 6.38% on Saturday, reaching a high of $4332. As of the time of writing, the trading price of ETH is around $4244. This ETH price rebound coincides with a decline in Bitcoin's market dominance and a significant improvement in trader sentiment. Renowned cryptocurrency analyst Ted and others predict that ETH is about to retest its all-time high (ATH) of $4878 set in November 2021, stating that this is "just a matter of days." Market data indicates that if the ETH price reaches $4500, it could trigger a large-scale Short Squeeze. CoinGlass estimates that hitting this level could lead to the liquidation of short positions worth approximately $1.35 billion.

Ethereum Spot ETF's capital-raising power surpasses Bitcoin ETF Arkham also pointed out that recent ETF fund flows show a trend favorable to Ethereum rather than Bitcoin. Data shows that last Friday, ETFs focused on ETH recorded a total inflow of $461 million, surpassing the $404 million of Bitcoin ETFs. According to Farside data, in the past five trading days, the net inflow of the US Spot Ethereum ETF reached $326.6 million, while the net inflow of the Bitcoin ETF was $253.2 million. This reflects the increasing willingness of institutional funds to flow into ETH, continuously attracting funds after the approval of the Ethereum Spot ETF.

Vitalik Buterin's Billionaire Journey and Position Changes Buterin first joined the billionaire ranks in May 2021, when ETH broke the $3,000 mark for the first time. At that time, he held approximately 333,500 ETH, worth about $1.029 billion. However, he revealed in 2018 that his holdings of ETH had never exceeded 0.9% of the supply, and before that bull market in 2021, his net worth was "nowhere near" $1 billion.

Vitalik Buterin warns institutions about ETH holding leverage risks Despite the support for the current rise of Ethereum from institutional fund inflows and an increasing number of companies holding ETH as reserve assets, Buterin himself expressed a cautious view on this trend. In a recent interview, he warned that the potential over-leveraging risk in institutional ETH vaults could pose long-term hidden dangers. "If you wake me up in three years and tell me that the treasury (overholding ETH) caused the collapse of Ether... I guess it's basically because they (institutions) somehow turned it into an overly leveraged game," he said.

Case: BitMine Makes a Big Investment in ETH Last week, BitMine Immersion Technologies, chaired by Tom Lee of Fundstrat, added 208,137 ETH to its growing crypto asset reserve. This brings its total ETH holdings to 833,137, valued at over $3 billion at current prices. This move solidifies BitMine's position as the largest ETH-holding publicly traded company and places it among the top four publicly traded companies globally holding the most cryptocurrencies.

Conclusion: The breakthrough of Ethereum's price at a key resistance level, the appreciation of the founder's wealth, and the strong inflow of ETF funds together paint an optimistic picture of the current ETH market. The market is generally focused on whether ETH can successfully challenge its historical high in the short term, initiating a new bull market. However, Vitalik Buterin's warning also reminds investors to pay attention to the leverage risk of institutional holdings of ETH, and to remain rational when participating in ETH contract trading or planning the development of the ETH ecosystem.