Ethereum News Today: ETH Climbs to $1,748 as BitMine Adds 126K ETH at Year Low and Russell 1000 Inclusion Hits June 26

Last Updated: June 22, 2026

Ethereum is trading at $1,748 on June 22, 2026 — up 0.95% in the past 24 hours — recovering quietly as two structural stories dominate the session. BitMine Immersion Technologies made its biggest single ETH purchase of 2026 last week, buying 126,000 ETH worth approximately $237 million at the cycle low — lifting total holdings to nearly 5.4 million ETH, or 4.47% of circulating supply. And BitMine’s Russell 1000 inclusion date is June 26, four days away — meaning every fund manager benchmarked against the Russell 1000’s $4 trillion in tracked assets will have to decide whether to own the stock, creating indirect ETH demand at exactly the moment price is recovering from a double bottom. Follow the live Ethereum price today tracker for real-time updates.

Key Takeaways

• ETH is at $1,748.29, up 0.95% in 24 hours, with a market cap of $210.99 billion
• Volume is $11.58 billion, up 34.14% — rising volume on a green day is a positive signal
• BitMine bought 126,000 ETH at the 2026 cycle low — its largest single purchase of the year — lifting holdings to 5.4 million ETH (4.47% of supply)
• BitMine Russell 1000 inclusion: June 26 — over $4 trillion in benchmarked fund assets must decide whether to hold or underweight the stock
• ETH/BTC ratio at 0.027 — the lowest since early 2023; analysts divided on whether this is the buy of the cycle or a structural signal
• Q1 2026 network metrics: 13.2 million monthly active users (+53.5% QoQ), 200.4 million transactions — but base layer fees fell 50% as Glamsterdam scaling begins
• Changelly algorithm projects ETH reaches $1,736 by June 23; July 2026 target $2,277

ETH Market Overview

Metric	Value
Price	$1,748.29
24h Change	+0.95%
Market Cap	$210.99B
FDV	$210.99B
24h Volume	$11.58B (+34.14%)
Vol/Mkt Cap	5.22%
Circulating Supply	120.68M ETH
Max Supply	∞
All-Time High	$4,953.73 (Aug 24, 2025)
ATH Drawdown	~64.7%

BitMine’s 126K ETH Buy at Year Low — and the Russell 1000 Clock

BitMine made its most significant ETH purchase since December last week, acquiring 126,000 ETH worth approximately $237 million at prices near the 2026 cycle low. That single transaction lifted total holdings to nearly 5.4 million ETH — approximately 4.47% of Ethereum’s entire circulating supply.

The timing of the purchase is worth noting. BitMine bought at or near the lowest ETH prices of 2026, in the same week that Bitcoin touched its cycle low and the Fear & Greed Index hit 15. That is not coincidence — it is the playbook of a corporate treasury that has publicly stated its intention to own 5% of all circulating ETH and is willing to buy aggressively into weakness.

The more immediate catalyst is the Russell 1000 inclusion. BitMine’s inclusion date is June 26 — four days away. Tom Lee explained the significance at a Paris conference: “The Russell 1000 is the most widely tracked index in the world. Every fund manager in the world who is benchmarked against the Russell 1000 — and that’s over $4 trillion worth — will have to decide if they want to own BitMine.” Passive funds that track the Russell 1000 will be forced to buy BitMine stock proportionally. Active managers benchmarked against the index will need to take a position or justify an underweight. Both flows create buying pressure on BitMine stock, and BitMine’s NAV is now almost entirely ETH — making it a de facto leveraged ETH vehicle for institutional investors who cannot access spot ETH ETFs in their mandates.

Lee’s thesis at the Paris conference was explicit: “If you are bearish today, you are selling at the bottom. I can’t emphasize this enough — if you’re bearish today, you are bearish at the bottom for Bitcoin and Ethereum.” He also stated his long-term ETH target at $250,000, driven by AI agents requiring Ethereum as payment infrastructure and the tokenization of global financial assets creating persistent, machine-generated ETH demand.

ETH/BTC Ratio Hits 2023 Lows: Contrarian Buy or Structural Signal?

The ETH/BTC ratio has declined to approximately 0.027 — a level not seen since early 2023 and far below its 2021 peak of 0.088. This ratio measures ETH’s price performance relative to Bitcoin and is one of the most watched indicators of capital rotation in crypto markets.

Two camps have formed around this reading.

The bull case: a 0.027 ETH/BTC ratio at a cycle low, with Glamsterdam approaching mainnet, BitMine accumulating at 4.47% of supply, and institutional ETF flows returning, is a historically extreme reading. Every previous time the ratio fell this far in a bull cycle, the subsequent ETH/BTC recovery produced multi-year gains for ETH holders versus BTC holders. Standard Chartered has specifically projected ETH could outperform BTC by 40% in H2 2026.

The bear case: the ratio reflects a real structural shift. Ethereum is deliberately sacrificing near-term fee revenue to scale — Q1 2026 base layer fees fell 50% even as transactions hit all-time highs. Lower fees mean less ETH burned via EIP-1559, which reduces the deflationary pressure that has historically been one of ETH’s price catalysts. Bitcoin’s commodity classification under the CLARITY Act and its simpler supply mechanics may give it a structural advantage in a risk-off, high-rate environment.

The resolution of this debate depends largely on whether Glamsterdam delivers on its Q3 2026 timeline. If the upgrade activates and fee revenue recovers through higher throughput and activity, the bull case becomes self-evident. If it is delayed, the bear case strengthens.

Q1 2026 Network Metrics: Record Users, Lower Fees

Ethereum’s Q1 2026 metrics published on June 17 reveal a network in a deliberate strategic transition. Monthly active users surged 53.5% quarter-over-quarter to 13.2 million. Transactions hit 200.4 million — an all-time high. Yet base layer transaction fees plummeted nearly 50% to $39.9 million.

The divergence is explained by the Fusaka upgrade’s second Blob Parameters Only fork, which increased data capacity and lowered costs — a direct precursor to Glamstrdam’s broader gas limit expansion. The Ethereum Foundation has explicitly stated its 2026 priority: scaling over revenue. The core team is deliberately sacrificing short-term fee income to unlock future demand at ten times current throughput.

This is the same strategic logic Amazon used when it suppressed margins for years to dominate e-commerce infrastructure. Short-term fee compression is the price of long-term network dominance. Whether that trade-off is correctly priced into ETH at $1,748 is the central question for ETH holders in H2 2026.

Price Analysis: $1,700 Floor Holds, Targeting $1,760–$1,800

ETH is trading above the $1,714 classical pivot support and has held the $1,700 structural floor through multiple intraday tests since Friday. Volume rising 34.14% on a green day — $11.58 billion — confirms the move has buying conviction behind it, unlike Sunday’s low-volume consolidation.

The RSI has recovered from oversold territory to approximately 32–42, indicating selling pressure is easing but buyers have not fully regained control. The MACD remains negative on the daily chart. The 50-day moving average, currently above price and falling, acts as overhead resistance.

The immediate technical target for the recovery is $1,760 — the next resistance level from the classical pivot model. A 4-hour close above $1,760 would open a path toward $1,800. A confirmed daily close above $1,800 would shift short-term sentiment from bearish to neutral and open the path toward the 50-day SMA near $1,875.

Key levels this week:

Level	Type
$1,800	Resistance — sentiment shift
$1,768	Resistance — secondary
$1,754	Resistance — immediate
$1,728	Pivot point
$1,714	Support — immediate
$1,688	Support — secondary
$1,673	Support — strongest near-term
$1,600	Floor — 2026 structural demand zone

For context on how Bitcoin is navigating the same macro environment today, see Bitcoin news today.

What Is Ethereum?

Ethereum is the world’s largest programmable blockchain and the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, currently sitting at $210.99 billion. Unlike Bitcoin, which functions primarily as a store of value, Ethereum is a platform — a global settlement layer for decentralized applications, stablecoins, DeFi protocols, NFTs, and tokenized real-world assets.

Ethereum was conceived by Vitalik Buterin in a 2013 white paper and launched in 2015. The network underwent its most significant transformation in September 2022 with The Merge, which shifted Ethereum from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake — reducing energy consumption by over 99% and introducing the staking yield that makes ETH structurally different from Bitcoin.

For a foundational overview of the underlying technology, see the guide to what is blockchain.

Key Ethereum Fundamentals

Metric	Data
Launch Year	2015
Consensus	Proof-of-Stake (since Sep 2022)
Total Staked ETH	~38.6 million (~32% of supply)
DeFi Market Share	~68% of global TVL
Stablecoin Settlement	>50% of all stablecoins
ATH	$4,953.73 (Aug 24, 2025)
Current Upgrade	Glamsterdam (Q3 2026 target)
BitMine Holdings	~5.4M ETH (4.47% of supply)

Where to Buy Ethereum (ETH)

• Binance — largest global exchange; ETH/USDT, ETH/BTC, and fiat pairs
• Coinbase — U.S.-regulated; supports ETH staking directly on platform
• Kraken — ETH staking with competitive APY
• KuCoin — wide altcoin selection alongside ETH trading pairs
• Gate.io — advanced ETH trading products and leveraged options
• OKX — ETH spot, futures, and earn products

For self-custody, ETH is compatible with any ERC-20 hardware or software wallet. Liquid staking via Lido offers approximately 3–4% APY without locking tokens.