Bitmine Immersion Technologies, led by Chairman Tom Lee, has purchased an additional 101,901 ether tokens, bringing its total holdings to over 5 million tokens, which is approximately 4.21% of the circulating supply of the second-largest cryptocurrency. This milestone was achieved in roughly 10 months, following the company's shift from a bitcoin miner to a digital asset treasury strategy company in June. Lee noted, 'The fact that Bitmine's ETH holdings have surpassed 5 million is a significant milestone, as we move towards our goal of acquiring 5% of the ETH supply.' The recent purchase, valued at around $236 million, continues the company's trend of making larger weekly purchases while most digital asset treasuries remain inactive.
The firm's total crypto and cash holdings now stand at $13.3 billion, including its ETH position, 200 bitcoin, $940 million in cash, and equity stakes in companies such as Beast Industries and Eightco Holdings. Furthermore, Bitmine has expanded its staking operations, with about 3.7 million tokens, or roughly 73% of its holdings, now staked, generating approximately $264 million in annualized revenue.
The company launched its Mavan staking platform in March to attract institutional clients and support its treasury operations. Lee also emphasized ether's evolving role, citing research by Etherealize, which suggests that ETH is increasingly being viewed as a 'store of value' and collateral, particularly as digital assets gain traction in financial transactions. He highlighted that ETH has outperformed the S&P 500 since the start of the Iran conflict and pointed to growing use cases, such as tokenization and AI systems relying on public blockchains, as a long-term driver for the asset. According to Lee, 'There is significant meaning to ETH being considered the best 'wartime store of value' and its position as the leading asset since the war began.'