A second major corporate player in the cryptocurrency market is now mirroring the investment approach of the first. Bitmine Immersion Technologies, led by Fundstrat's Tom Lee, has purchased 101,901 ether, valued at approximately $234 million, marking its largest weekly buy this year.
This move brings Bitmine's accumulation pace closer to that of Strategy, a firm known for its significant bitcoin purchases. Notably, Strategy's typical weekly buys range from $200 million to $300 million, excluding large purchases fueled by the sale of its perpetual preferred stock, STRC. Bitmine's purchase is part of a four-month trend of increasing buys, starting with roughly $76 million per week in early January, and the company now holds over 5 million tokens, representing about 4.21% of the circulating supply of the second-largest cryptocurrency.
This development is significant as Bitmine is now the only major corporate crypto buyer keeping pace with Strategy. Most digital asset treasury companies have slowed or paused accumulation following the February price drop, but Bitmine has continued its buying streak, with Lee suggesting that ETH is in the late stages of a 'mini-crypto winter' and a bottom is forming in equity markets. The firm has staked about 73% of its tokens, generating roughly $264 million in annualized revenue from yield, with total crypto and cash holdings at $13.3 billion as of early April. Both Strategy and Bitmine share a similar approach to capital markets activity, utilizing preferred stock and convertible debt or equity issuance to purchase crypto assets.
Despite facing pressure in February and early March with nearly $8 billion in unrealized losses, Bitmine continued its buying strategy, and two months later, ether is up 22% from its February lows, with Bitmine's accumulation pace not only holding but accelerating. While Strategy's April 21 purchase of $2.54 billion remains the largest single corporate crypto buy this year, Bitmine's recent $234 million purchase brings the structural baselines of the two firms within striking distance of each other.