The ether (ETH) treasury firm Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR), led by Chairman Thomas “Tom” Lee, recently increased its holdings by purchasing an additional 101,901 ETH. This acquisition has boosted the company’s total holdings to over 5 million tokens, constituting approximately 4.21% of the circulating supply of ether.
Since transitioning from a bitcoin miner to a digital asset treasury strategy firm in June, Bitmine has achieved this milestone within about ten months. In his recent statement, Lee highlighted that “Bitmine ETH holdings crossed 5 million this past week,” marking a significant step towards their goal of acquiring 5% of the total ETH supply.
The latest purchase is valued at around $236 million based on current ether prices and continues Bitmine’s trend of making substantial weekly acquisitions while other digital asset treasuries remain inactive. The company’s overall portfolio, including crypto assets and cash reserves, totals approximately $13.3 billion. This includes 200 bitcoin (BTC), $940 million in cash, and equity stakes in companies like Beast Industries and Eightco Holdings, which focuses on Worldcoin.
Further expanding its operations, Bitmine has been actively staking a significant portion of its ETH holdings to generate yield. Currently, approximately 3.7 million tokens—about 73% of its total holdings—are staked, bringing in around $264 million in annualized revenue. The company launched the Mavan staking platform in March to attract institutional clients and support its treasury activities.
Shares of BMNR remained stable in pre-market trading following this update. Lee emphasized that ether is increasingly being perceived as a “store of value” and collateral, especially as digital assets become more prevalent in financial transactions. He referenced recent research by Etherealize to support his view.
Lee also noted ETH’s superior performance compared to the S&P 500 since the onset of conflict in Iran, highlighting its growing application in areas such as tokenization and AI systems on public blockchains. “There is a lot of meaning to ETH being the best ‘war-time store of value’ and to ETH being the asset leading since the war started,” he remarked.