Corporate treasuries have surpassed ETFs for Bitcoin purchases for a third consecutive quarter.

Around 131,000 BTC was accumulated by public companies in the second quarter, growing their Bitcoin balance by 18%. Meanwhile, ETFs accumulated 111,000 BTC with an 8% increase over the same period, according to Bitcoin Treasuries.

More companies are “trying to benefit from the Strategy playbook in a more crypto-friendly regulatory environment,” reported CNBC, citing figures from the treasury data provider.

Increasing Value For Shareholders

“The institutional buyer who is getting exposure to Bitcoin through the ETFs is not buying for the same reason as those public companies who are basically trying to accumulate Bitcoin to increase shareholder value at the end of the day,” Nick Marie, head of research at Ecoinometrics, told the outlet.

Some recently updated entities:

Effex Solutions Kft. — 0.254 BTC

@KVcegcsoport — 1.079 BTC

@MARAHoldings $MARA — 49,940 BTC

Vanadi Coffee, SA $VANA.MC — 64 BTC

CC @ferenckovacs, @HotelAuroraHU, @HotelAtlantisHu, @fgthiel pic.twitter.com/g6KYLODwKF

The researcher added that corporations don’t really care if the price is high or low, “they care about growing their Bitcoin treasury so they look more attractive to the proxy buyers.”

He added that it isn’t much to do with macro trends or sentiment, but has become a different kind of mechanism that can push Bitcoin forward.

According to Bitcoin Treasuries, there is currently 849,245 BTC, worth around $90 billion at current market prices, held by public companies. However, Saylor’s Strategy holds the lion’s share, or 70% of this total. Private companies hold 290,878 BTC, worth around $31 billion.

141 public and 42 private companies now hold 5.7% of the total circulating Bitcoin supply combined, while ETFs and other institutional funds hold around 7%, according to BT.

Analysts suggested this corporate treasury trend may be a temporary ten-year arbitrage opportunity that could normalize as Bitcoin becomes more mainstream and regulatory constraints on direct crypto investments ease.

“You can think about this wave as a bunch of companies that are trying to benefit from this arbitrage.”

Ethereum Next?

Meanwhile, Ethereum could be the next asset that corporations target for their treasuries due to its ability to provide additional yields through staking.

Just this week, Bitcoin network firm BitMine announced that it has taken on Fundstrat’s Tom Lee as Chairman, revealing plans for a $250 million private placement to accumulate Ethereum as part of the company’s treasury strategy.

Publicly-listed gaming tech firm SharpLink also has a $460 million Ethereum treasury that it has staked for additional yields.