By Ateev Bhandari
(Reuters) -The Ether Reserve, a new crypto venture backed by prominent crypto investors, will list on the Nasdaq through a merger with blank-check firm Dynamix Corporation and is expected to raise over $1.6 billion.
The combined entity, to be named The Ether Machine, aims to launch with more than 400,000 Ether on its balance sheet, positioning it as the largest public vehicle for institutional exposure to the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency.
Shares of Dynamix rose nearly 28% in early trading.
The deal highlights rising institutional interest in holding crypto on corporate balance sheets, with several projects announcing plans in recent months to publicly list their shares while aiming to wrap crypto assets into equity to attract traditional investors.
While most corporate interest has focused on Bitcoin, Ether has surged in recent weeks, hitting a six-month high on Friday.
Ether stands out for its yield-generating capability and its use in digitizing real-world assets, according to Andrew Keys, who will serve as Ether Machine’s chairman.
Ether holders earn returns via staking, a process that supports the operation and security of the Ethereum network.
“Bitcoin doesn’t have yield and Ether does,” Keys, who previously worked with Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin, told Reuters in an interview.
Investors in the blank-check deal, including Blockchain.com, Kraken, and Pantera Capital, are contributing more than $800 million through an upsized common stock offering.
ECOSYSTEM DOMINANCE
Ethereum is growing in a way that is reminiscent of how Google dominated internet search, Keys said, adding that 90% of stablecoins and other real-world tokenizations are settled on the platform.
The blockchain supporting Ether can have “infinite assets created on top of it and we can have infinite functionality through smart contract usage,” he added.
Smart contracts are self-executing digital agreements on blockchains, eliminating intermediaries.
Ether has also benefited from increased regulatory clarity around U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins.
“The largest beneficiary of the Genius Act is Ethereum because the majority of stablecoins reside on top of Ethereum,” Keys said.
The company will trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol “ETHM” upon deal close, which is expected in the fourth quarter of 2025.
(Reporting by Ateev Bhandari in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)
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