Ethereum News: Trend Research invests an additional $35 million in ETH, highlighting divergence signals for 2026 amid expanding enterprise holdings

Hong Kong investment firm Trend Research has recently increased its Ethereum holdings again, drawing market attention. On-chain data shows that the company recently spent approximately $35 million to buy ETH, bringing its total Ethereum holdings to about 601,000 coins. Based on current prices, the market value is close to $1.83 billion, making it one of the largest enterprise-level Ethereum holders globally.

According to Lookonchain disclosures, Trend Research borrowed approximately $958 million in stablecoins through the decentralized lending protocol Aave to continuously increase its ETH holdings, with an average purchase cost of around $3,265. This high leverage, long-term allocation strategy demonstrates their firm judgment of Ethereum’s medium- to long-term value.

Trend Research founder Jack Yi stated that he is “very optimistic” about the cryptocurrency market in the first half of 2026 and explicitly committed to continuing to buy Ethereum regardless of short-term price fluctuations until a new bull market fully unfolds. He believes that 2026 will bring multiple positive factors, including accelerated on-chain financial adoption, expansion of stablecoin scale, a global interest rate cut cycle, and improved cryptocurrency policy environment. He also revealed that he will hold a large amount of World Liberty Financial (WLFI) tokens related to the Trump family.

It is worth noting that Trend Research’s aggressive bullish stance contrasts sharply with some Wall Street institutions’ assessments. Fundstrat Global Advisors recently predicted that ETH could fall to the $1,800–$2,000 range in the first quarter of 2026, forming a phase bottom and creating conditions for a subsequent rebound. The research view of co-founder Tom Lee was quickly discussed in the market once exposed.

Meanwhile, Nansen data shows that the so-called “smart money” still maintains an overall ETH net short position of about $117 million, but in the past 24 hours, it has increased its long positions by about $15 million, indicating that some funds’ attitude toward short-term downside risks is easing.

Against the backdrop of rising enterprise-level Ethereum holdings and highly divided institutional opinions, ETH’s trajectory in 2026 is becoming one of the most controversial and most closely watched core topics in the crypto market.