Key Highlights
- Trend Research borrowed $30M USDT from Aave to buy 9,939 ETH, then used the ETH as collateral to borrow another $20M USDT.
- The firm now holds 636,819 ETH, making it one of the largest private Ethereum holders.
- Founder Jack Yi plans to keep buying Ethereum, including another $1 billion in the future.
Trend Research, a Hong Kong–linked crypto investment firm, has increased its Ethereum (ETH) holdings again after using borrowed funds from decentralized finance platforms.
According to on-chain records from Lookonchain, Trend Research borrowed $30 million in USDT from Aave, a decentralized lending platform, and used the funds to purchase 9,939 ETH, worth about $30.84 million at the time of purchase.
After the purchase, the company deposited the ETH back into Aave as collateral, which allowed it to borrow an additional $20 million in USDT. The funds were subsequently transferred to Binance, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges.
No further trade has been confirmed yet, but such transfers suggest that the company might be planning to buy more cryptocurrency. With this recent transaction, Trend Research’s on-chain holdings have now climbed to 636,819 ETH, worth roughly $1.98 billion.
Frequent purchases in recent weeks
Trend Research has been steadily buying Ethereum in the past month. About three weeks ago, the company purchased 46,379 ETH, which pushed its total holdings close to 580,000 ETH at the time. That same week, it bought about $35 million worth of Ethereum, pushing its total holdings to over 601,000 ETH, valued at roughly $1.83 billion.
These purchases placed the private company among the largest known holders of Ethereum in the world. Only two public companies, SharpLink Gaming and BitMine Immersion Technologies, report holding more ETH, even though Trend Research does not appear on most public crypto treasury lists.
Trend Research is linked to Jack Yi, founder of LD Capital. The firm has borrowed close to $958 million in stablecoins from Aave across multiple transactions, with an average Ether purchase price of about $3,265.
In a translated post shared on X in December, Yi said his firm was preparing “another $1 billion” to continue buying Ethereum and urged traders “not to short.” He added that he remains bullish on crypto into the first half of 2026 and plans to keep buying regardless of short-term price swings.
Corporate firms adopt Ethereum
Trend Research’s accumulation is a trend that has been picking up in the crypto industry lately, which involves corporate firms adopting crypto like Ethereum as a long-term reserve asset. For instance, BitMine Immersion Technologies has also been expanding its Ethereum strategy.
The firm has been one of the most active corporate buyers of Ethereum in recent months. Earlier this year, BitMine disclosed that it purchased another 24,266 ETH in a single week, which lifted its total holdings to about 4.17 million ETH, valued at close to $13 billion. This makes BitMine the largest known corporate holder of Ethereum.
Recent filings show BitMine now controls more than 3.4% of Ethereum’s circulating supply, a level it reached in roughly six months. Internally, the firm refers to its long-term goal as reaching 5% of total supply, a target executives believe would give it strong influence within the Ethereum network.
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