A second major corporate player in the cryptocurrency market is now mirroring the buying patterns of the first. Bitmine Immersion Technologies, led by Fundstrat's Tom Lee, has bought approximately $234 million worth of ether, comprising 101,901 tokens, in its largest weekly purchase of the year. This move brings Bitmine closer to Strategy, a company known for its significant bitcoin purchases, as highlighted by crypto trader Luke Martin. Strategy typically buys between $200 million and $300 million worth of bitcoin each week, excluding large purchases fueled by the sale of its perpetual preferred stock, STRC.
Bitmine's purchase marks the culmination of a four-month escalation in its buying activity, which started at around $76 million per week in early January. The company now holds over 5 million tokens, equivalent to about 4.21% of the circulating supply of the second-largest cryptocurrency. This development is significant as Bitmine is now the only major corporate player keeping pace with Strategy's buying activity. Most digital asset treasury companies slowed or paused their accumulation following the February price drop, which saw bitcoin fall to the mid-$60,000s and ether drop below $1,900.
Strategy itself ended a 13-week buying streak in late March before resuming in April. According to Tom Lee, the current buying pace is based on the assumption that ETH is in the late stages of a 'mini-crypto winter' and that a bottom is forming in equity markets. Since pivoting to its current strategy in June 2025, Bitmine has reached the milestone of 5 million ETH in roughly 10 months. The company has staked approximately 73% of these tokens, generating around $264 million in annualized revenue from yield.
As of early April, total crypto and cash holdings stood at $13.3 billion. Both firms employ a similar strategy of leveraging capital markets activity to purchase crypto assets, with Strategy using preferred stock and convertible debt, and Bitmine using equity issuance. Despite facing pressure in February and early March, when the company was sitting on nearly $8 billion in unrealized losses against $16 billion in total purchases, Bitmine continued to buy.
Two months later, ether has risen by 22% from its February lows, and Bitmine's accumulation pace has not only held but accelerated. While Strategy's $2.54 billion purchase on April 21 remains the largest single corporate crypto buy of the year, Bitmine's $234 million purchase last week marks the first time the structural baselines of the two companies have come close to each other.
If this pattern continues for another month, ether will have a corporate buyer equivalent to Strategy, absorbing supply each week regardless of price.