A second major player in corporate cryptocurrency accumulation is emerging, mirroring the strategy of the first. Bitmine Immersion Technologies, led by Fundstrat's Tom Lee, purchased 101,901 ether, valued at approximately $234 million, in its largest weekly buy of the year. This move brings the firm closer to Strategy, the Michael Saylor-led digital treasury company, in terms of regular weekly purchases. Notably, once Strategy's large, at-the-market sales of its perpetual preferred stock are factored out, the weekly buys of both companies are comparable, with Bitmine now holding over 5 million tokens, roughly 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. The firm's 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. With approximately 73% of its tokens staked, generating around $264 million in annualized revenue from yield, Bitmine's total crypto and cash holdings stood at $13.3 billion as of early April.
Both firms employ a similar playbook of 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, Bitmine continued to buy, and two months later, ether has increased by 22% from its February lows, with the firm'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 of the year, Bitmine's $234 million purchase is the first time the structural baselines of the two firms have come within striking distance of each other, potentially signaling a new era for ether with a consistent corporate buyer absorbing supply each week, regardless of price.