Ethereum News Today: ETH Drops to $1,741 as Glamsterdam Enters Final Devnet and BitMine Holds 5.62 Million ETH

Last Updated: June 18, 2026

Ethereum is trading at $1,741 on June 18, 2026 — down 1.26% in the past 24 hours — even as two of the most significant structural developments in the network’s recent history unfolded this week. Core developers confirmed that the Glamsterdam hard fork, described as the largest protocol overhaul since the Merge, has entered its final devnet phase ahead of public testnet deployment. Simultaneously, BitMine Immersion Technologies disclosed holdings of 5.62 million ETH, representing 4.66% of the entire circulating supply, with $4.7 billion already staked and generating yield. The contrast between the price action and the underlying fundamentals is the defining tension in today’s Ethereum news. Follow the live ETH/USD price tracker for real-time updates.

Key Takeaways

• ETH is trading at $1,741, down 1.26% in 24 hours, with a market cap of $210.14 billion
• Glamsterdam final devnet is live with all 10 EIPs included; mainnet activation expected H2 2026
• BitMine holds 5.62 million ETH (4.66% of supply) with 4.7 million tokens already staked
• U.S. spot ETH ETFs recorded $22.5 million in net inflows after four consecutive days of outflows
• Whale wallets linked to Tom Lee and Arthur Hayes accumulated over 32,000 ETH in two days
• Standard Chartered maintains a $7,500 year-end ETH price target; Citigroup targets $3,175

ETH Market Overview

Glamsterdam Enters Final Devnet: What It Means

Ethereum’s most consequential upgrade since the 2022 Merge moved into its final development phase on June 16, 2026, with core developers now running devnets that include the complete set of EIPs planned for the fork.

Parithosh Jayanthi, a DevOps engineer at the Ethereum Foundation, confirmed the milestone directly: “We’re working on devnets with all the EIPs in them right now. This is the last phase before we work on hardening and then shipping the testnets. There’s no fixed timeline, but we’ve made massive progress.”

The upgrade, tracked under the Meta EIP-7773, bundles ten Ethereum Improvement Proposals. The two structural anchors are EIP-7732, which introduces Enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation (ePBS), and EIP-7928, which adds Block-Level Access Lists (BALs) to enable parallel transaction execution.

The gas limit is set to rise from 60 million to 200 million per block, while throughput is targeting 10,000 transactions per second — roughly ten times current capacity. Gas fees are projected to fall by approximately 78.6% across standard operations.

Mainnet activation has no fixed date. Based on past Ethereum upgrade cadences, public testnets on Holesky and Hoodi typically run for two to four months before mainnet. That puts a realistic activation window between September and December 2026, with an end-of-August base case according to some developer documentation.

The upgrade does not require ETH holders to take any action. Validators and node operators will need to update their client software before mainnet goes live.

BitMine Discloses 5.62 Million ETH and $8.1 Billion in Staked Tokens

BitMine Immersion Technologies, the Ethereum treasury company chaired by Tom Lee, disclosed in a June 14 SEC filing that its holdings had reached 5.62 million ETH valued at approximately $9.7 billion at current prices. Of that total, 4.7 million ETH — worth roughly $8.1 billion — is actively staked through the company’s MAVAN validator network, generating an estimated $219 million in annual staking income.

BitMine has been accumulating ETH since mid-2025 with a stated goal of reaching 5% of the circulating supply, currently set at 120.68 million tokens. The company closed a $274 million preferred stock offering on June 10 to continue funding purchases.

Tom Lee, writing in the company’s May chairman’s letter, framed the current environment as the early phase of a “crypto spring” and argued that ETH prices do not reflect the network’s strengthening fundamentals. He pointed to two long-term demand drivers: Wall Street’s accelerating move toward tokenization and agentic AI systems increasingly requiring neutral, public blockchains for infrastructure.

BitMine is backed by institutional investors including ARK’s Cathie Wood, Founders Fund, Pantera, Kraken, and Galaxy Digital.

ETF Inflows Return After Four-Day Outflow Streak

U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs recorded $22.5 million in net inflows over the most recent reporting period, including $9.59 million on June 16, ending a four-day streak of outflows. BlackRock’s ETHA fund continues to dominate the category with an estimated 60-70% market share and approximately $11-12 billion in assets under management.

Cumulative net inflows across all U.S. spot ETH ETFs now stand at approximately $11.97 billion, with total AUM reaching $15.86 billion — equivalent to roughly 4.9% of ETH’s market capitalization.

On-chain data published alongside the ETF flow numbers showed that large wallets linked to Tom Lee and Arthur Hayes accumulated more than 32,000 ETH, worth approximately $57 million, during a two-day window. Exchange outflows also picked up, with nearly 500,000 ETH leaving centralized exchanges in the week ending June 14, according to analyst Ali Martinez.

Price Analysis: Support at $1,700, Resistance at $1,750

ETH is trading inside a narrow band defined by $1,700 support and $1,750-$1,800 resistance. The daily structure remains bearish, with the 50-day moving average positioned above the current price and the 200-day moving average trending lower since May 18, 2026.

The RSI on the daily timeframe is reading below 45, indicating neutral to slightly bearish momentum without reaching oversold territory. The MACD histogram remains in negative territory, with no confirmed bullish crossover yet visible.

Shorter timeframes are more constructive. On the 4-hour chart, the 50-day moving average is sloping upward, and buyers have defended the $1,700 level on multiple intraday tests over the past week.

The critical level for bulls is a daily close above $1,750-$1,800. A sustained move through that range would open a path toward $2,000, the level Tom Lee identified as a psychological milestone for confirming “crypto spring.” A break below $1,700 would expose the $1,600 floor, which has served as the 2026 demand zone since ETH’s June correction from $2,400.

Institutional Price Targets

What Is Ethereum?

Ethereum is a decentralized blockchain network launched in July 2015 by Vitalik Buterin and a team of co-founders following a crowdfunding campaign in 2014 that raised over $18 million. The network enables developers to deploy smart contracts — self-executing code that runs without intermediaries — and powers the majority of the world’s decentralized finance applications, NFT marketplaces, and stablecoin infrastructure.

Ether (ETH) is the native asset of the Ethereum network. It functions as both the currency used to pay transaction fees (known as “gas”) and the staking collateral that secures the network under proof-of-stake consensus, which Ethereum adopted in September 2022 during an event known as The Merge.

Over 68% of all DeFi total value locked operates on Ethereum. More than half of all stablecoins by market capitalization settle on the Ethereum network, generating approximately 40% of all blockchain fees globally. The network currently processes between 1 million and 3.6 million daily transactions depending on market conditions.

For a broader introduction to the technology underlying Ethereum, see our guide to what is blockchain and how it works.

Key Ethereum Fundamentals

Ethereum and the Tokenization Thesis

The institutional accumulation thesis for Ethereum in 2026 centers on the network’s role as the primary settlement layer for tokenized real-world assets. BlackRock, Robinhood, and major financial institutions are actively testing on-chain tokenized securities and settlement systems that run on Ethereum. The broader crypto market context — including moves in Bitcoin and XRP — continues to influence ETH sentiment directly.

Standard Chartered, in its most recent research note, cited corporate treasury accumulation and spot ETF demand as the two main demand drivers. The bank noted that corporate treasuries and spot ETFs have collectively acquired approximately 3.8% of all ETH in circulation since June 2025 — a pace nearly double what was seen in comparable Bitcoin accumulation phases.

Sharplink Gaming CEO Joseph Chalom has projected that Ethereum’s total value locked could increase tenfold in 2026, driven by stablecoin growth toward $500 billion and tokenized RWAs approaching $300 billion. Ethereum currently processes more than $12 billion in tokenized assets, according to RWA.xyz.

Where to Buy Ethereum (ETH)

Ethereum is available on all major centralized and decentralized exchanges. Verified platforms for purchasing ETH include:

• Binance — largest global exchange by volume; supports ETH/USDT, ETH/BTC, and fiat pairs
• Coinbase — U.S.-regulated exchange; supports direct bank transfers and ETH staking
• Kraken — supports staking with up to 4% APY on ETH
• KuCoin — wide altcoin selection alongside ETH trading pairs
• Gate.io — supports advanced ETH trading products
• OKX — offers ETH spot, futures, and earn products

For self-custody, ETH can be stored in hardware wallets or software wallets compatible with ERC-20 tokens. Liquid staking via Lido is available for holders who want staking yield (approximately 3-4% APY) without locking tokens.