A second major corporate cryptocurrency accumulator, Bitmine Immersion Technologies, is mirroring the actions of the first, Strategy. Last week, Bitmine acquired 101,901 ether, valued at approximately $234 million, marking its largest weekly purchase this year. This move brings the firm's buying pace closer to that of Strategy, led by Michael Saylor, as noted by crypto trader Luke Martin.
Strategy's typical weekly purchases range from $200 million to $300 million, excluding large buys fueled by at-the-market sales of its perpetual preferred stock, STRC. Bitmine's purchase capped a four-month streak of increasing buys, starting at around $76 million per week in early January, and the firm 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 paused or slowed accumulation during the February price drop, but Bitmine continued its buying streak. The firm's chairman, Tom Lee, believes that ETH is in the late stages of a "mini-crypto winter" and that a bottom is forming in equity markets. Bitmine has staked around 73% of its tokens, generating approximately $264 million in annualized revenue from yield, with total crypto and cash holdings at $13.3 billion as of early April.
Both firms employ a 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 with nearly $8 billion in unrealized losses, Bitmine continued buying and has since seen its accumulation pace accelerate, with ether up 22% from its February lows.