Bitmine Immersion Technologies, led by Chairman Tom Lee, has purchased an additional 101,901 ETH, bringing its total holdings to over 5 million tokens. This represents approximately 4.21% of the circulating ether supply. The firm achieved this milestone in roughly 10 months, following its pivot from a bitcoin miner to a digital asset treasury strategy company. Tom Lee stated, 'Reaching 5 million ETH is a significant milestone, as we strive to acquire 5% of the ETH supply.' The recent purchase, valued at around $236 million, contributes to the company's growing ETH position, while many digital asset treasuries have halted accumulation.
Bitmine's total crypto and cash holdings now stand at $13.3 billion, including 200 bitcoin, $940 million in cash, and equity stakes in various companies. The firm has also expanded its staking operations, with approximately 3.7 million ETH tokens staked, generating around $264 million in annualized revenue.
Tom Lee emphasized ether's evolving role, citing research by Etherealize, which suggests that ETH is increasingly being viewed as a 'store of value' and collateral in financial transactions. He also highlighted ETH's outperformance of the S&P 500 since the start of the Iran conflict and its growing use cases, such as tokenization and AI systems, as a long-term driver for the asset.