Crypto Journalist

Amin Ayan

Crypto Journalist

Amin Ayan

About Author

Amin Ayan is a crypto journalist with over four years of experience in the industry. He has contributed to leading publications such as Cryptonews, Investing.com, 99Bitcoins, and 24/7 Wall St. He has…

Share

Last updated: 

September 4, 2025

Ethereum-focused firm Etherealize has secured $40 million in fresh funding as it ramps up efforts to bring the second-largest cryptocurrency to Wall Street’s doorstep.

The raise, led by Electric Capital and Paradigm, aims to deepen institutional understanding of Ethereum and accelerate its adoption across traditional finance.

The funding round arrives during a pivotal week for Ethereum, with public firms collectively adding over $1.2 billion worth of Ether (ETH) to their treasuries, a surge that underscores growing institutional appetite for the asset.

Etherealize Aims to Bridge Ethereum and Wall Street

Etherealize, launched in January with backing from the Ethereum Foundation and co-founder Vitalik Buterin, is designed to bridge the gap between Ethereum’s complex ecosystem and the financial world’s demand for clarity, tools, and regulation-ready infrastructure.

Co-founder Grant Hummer previously noted that despite Ethereum’s presence in crypto ETFs, many institutions still lack the fundamental knowledge needed to engage meaningfully with ETH.

The $40 million will fund new tools and platforms tailored to institutional workflows. Etherealize plans to build infrastructure for private trading and settlement of tokenized assets, including a settlement platform for tokenized bonds and other fixed income products.

The firm is positioning itself at the intersection of crypto-native innovation and enterprise-level finance, hoping to deliver scalable solutions for firms seeking exposure to Ethereum’s capabilities.

“Over the past decade, Ethereum has gone from an experiment to the world’s most battle-tested, open financial network,” said co-founder Danny Ryan, adding that the new capital will help “upgrade institutional finance to modern, safer, globally accessible rails.”

The raise comes as Ethereum sees renewed momentum among public companies.

The Ether Machine, a crypto treasury firm planning a public listing, led this week’s accumulation with a 150,000 ETH buy, valued at $654 million.

Meanwhile, BitMine Immersion Technologies, Ethereum’s largest corporate holder, added another $65 million in ETH on Wednesday alone, per data from Arkham.

Other firms followed suit. Sharplink Gaming and Yunfeng Financial disclosed ETH purchases worth $176 million and $44 million, respectively.

Joseph Lubin Predicts 100x ETH Surge

Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin believes ETH could rally 100x or more over time, calling it Wall Street’s future infrastructure as TradFi shifts toward decentralized finance.

In an X post, Lubin said Ethereum will replace many siloed systems at institutions like JPMorgan and become the backbone for financial services, staking, and smart contract execution.

Backing the bullish stance of Fundstrat’s Tom Lee, Lubin stated he’s “100% aligned” with Lee’s view that Ethereum could flip Bitcoin in network value.

He compared the moment to 1971 when the U.S. dollar left the gold standard, signaling a tectonic shift in financial architecture led by Ethereum.

Likewise, Lee has predicted that Ethereum will rally in the near term to $5,500, with an ambitious year-end target of $12,000.

During his August 26 guest appearance on the Amitis Investing program, Lee disclosed that institutional Wall Street sentiment toward Ethereum has shifted dramatically following the U.S. Senate’s passage of the GENIUS Stablecoin legislation.

Lee emphasized that Ethereum is the foundational blockchain infrastructure for traditional finance (TradFi), currently supporting over $145 billion in stablecoin supply.

Ethereum advocacy firm Etherealize has closed a $40 million funding round to help it pitch the blockchain to Wall Street in a week that’s already seen public firms add over $1.2 billion worth of Ether to their treasuries. 

Etherealize said on Wednesday that the crypto-focused venture firms Electric Capital and Paradigm led the round, which it would use to “continue driving institutional adoption of Ethereum.”

The company launched in January with funding from the Ethereum Foundation and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin to educate institutions on the blockchain and the Ether (ETH) token.

Wall Street has yet to embrace ETH as deeply as it has Bitcoin (BTC) when comparing the trading volumes and inflows to related exchange-traded funds.

Etherealize co-founder Grant Hummer said in January that amid the ETF launches, he noticed institutions lacked education on ETH, which the company wanted to address.

Etherealize to use funds for institutional tools 

Etherealize said the $40 million would be put toward developing crypto-based financial tools aimed at institutions.

The firm wants to build infrastructure for privately trading and settling tokenized assets, a settlement platform geared to “institutional tokenization workflows,” and applications aimed at markets for tokenized fixed income products, such as tokenized bonds.

“Over the past decade, Ethereum has gone from an experiment to the world’s most battle-tested, open financial network,” said Etherealize co-founder Danny Ryan, adding the raise would help upgrade “institutional finance to modern, safer, globally accessible rails.”

Public firms add $1.26 billion worth of ETH this week

Etherealize’s raise comes after public firms globally have added $1.2 billion worth of ETH to their holdings so far this week, according to data from the website Strategic ETH Reserve.

The Ether Machine, a so-called crypto treasury company that is planning to go public soon, made the week’s largest addition with a 150,000 ETH raise on Tuesday, valued at $654 million.

The same day, the largest ETH holding firm, BitMine Immersion Technologies, said it scooped up over 150,000 ETH over the previous week, with data from Arkham showing it bought an additional $65 million worth on Wednesday.

Related: Ether exchange reserves fall to 3-year low as ETFs, corporate treasuries soak up supply 

Sharplink Gaming and the Hong Kong-listed Yunfeng Financial announced they bought more ETH on Tuesday, making respective purchases worth $176 million and $44 million.

ETH at nearly 50% odds of $6,000 this year 

Nick Forster, the founder of crypto options platform Derive, said in a note on Wednesday that a possible Federal Reserve rate cut this month and the ETH buys by public companies have set it up “for explosive potential heading into Q4.”

He said ETH-buying firms now hold nearly 4% of the token supply, and a rate cut could see such companies “holding 6-10% of ETH’s supply by year-end, positioning them as a major force behind ETH’s price action.”

Forster predicted there was a 44% chance that ETH reaches $6,000 by the end of the year, and gave 30% odds of it hitting that price by the end of October.

Ether is currently trading for just under $4,400, up 1.8% on the day, but it has fallen 11.5% since its peak of around $4,950 on Aug. 24.

Trade Secrets: Ether could ‘rip like 2021’ as SOL traders brace for 10% drop 

]]> https://earlybirdsinvest.com/etherealize-raises-40m-to-market-ethereum-firms-add-1-2b-this-week/feed/ 0 56683 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/crypto-ponzi-scheme-mastermind-gets-8-years-for-40m-investor-fraud-doj-confirms/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/crypto-ponzi-scheme-mastermind-gets-8-years-for-40m-investor-fraud-doj-confirms/#respond Mon, 30 Jun 2025 10:50:25 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/crypto-ponzi-scheme-mastermind-gets-8-years-for-40m-investor-fraud-doj-confirms/

Journalist

Hassan Shittu

Journalist

Hassan Shittu

About Author

Hassan, a Cryptonews.com journalist with 6+ years of experience in Web3 journalism, brings deep knowledge across Crypto, Web3 Gaming, NFTs, and Play-to-Earn sectors. His work has appeared in…

Share

Last updated: 

June 30, 2025

Dwayne Golden of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced to over eight years in federal prison for his role in a $40 million crypto Ponzi scheme, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The sentence was delivered by Judge William F. Kuntz II in a Brooklyn federal court. The 57 years old man had pleaded guilty in September 2024 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.

According to the prosecutor, Golden and his co-conspirators, Gregory Aggesen, Marquis Demacking Egerton (also known as “Mardy Eger”), and William White, created and operated fraudulent investment platforms.

These include EmpowerCoin, ECoinPlus, and Jet-Coin, between April and August 2017. These websites promised investors fixed profits through overseas crypto trading.

No Real Trading Took Place: DOJ Exposes Crypto Scam Network

United States Attorney Nocella noted that the companies only lured investors with promises of guaranteed high returns from overseas cryptocurrency trading. However, prosecutors say none of the companies engaged in any real trading activity.

Instead, the defendants used incoming investor funds to pay earlier investors or diverted the money for personal use, consistent with a Ponzi scheme.

FBI Assistant Director Raia noted that the platforms raised more than $40 million in total. After the schemes collapsed, the defendants tried to hide their crimes by obstructing federal investigations.

Between July 2017 and March 2022, Golden, Aggesen, and White attempted to hinder both a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) inquiry and a federal grand jury investigation. Authorities said they destroyed key evidence and gave false and misleading statements to investigators.

Notably, William White was previously sentenced to 30 months in prison for his role. Meanwhile, Aggesen and Egerton have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.

As part of his sentence, Golden was also ordered to forfeit roughly $2.46 million in illegal gains. The court will decide on restitution to victims at a later date.

Victims May Be Eligible for Restitution

In a glimmer of hope, The U.S. Attorney’s Office encouraged victims of EmpowerCoin.com, ECoinPlus.com, or Jet-Coin.com to submit restitution claims through the FBI.

“This office is committed to protecting investors and holding fraudsters accountable,” said U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella. “We will continue to pursue justice for those harmed.”

Earlier this month, five individuals admitted guilt in a separate case involving a $36.9 million cryptocurrency fraud scheme. The group tricked U.S. citizens and funneled the stolen funds to a crypto scam operation based in Cambodia.

With crypto-related scams growing, CertiK co-founder Ronghui Gu reported more than $2.1 billion already lost in 2025. The majority of these losses stem from compromised wallets and poor private key management.

Relatably, The DOJ filed a civil forfeiture complaint to seize $225.3 million in Tether’s USDT, marking the largest crypto seizure tied to a “pig butchering” investment scam.

DOJ officials noted that the action is part of a broader crackdown on transnational scams, with over $9.3 billion in crypto losses reported in 2024, and $5.8 billion linked directly to investment fraud.