A second major corporate cryptocurrency accumulator, Bitmine, is mirroring the buying patterns of its predecessor, Strategy. Bitmine Immersion Technologies, led by Tom Lee, purchased approximately $234 million worth of ether, totaling 101,901 tokens, in its largest weekly buy this year. This amount is comparable to Strategy's typical weekly bitcoin purchases, which range from $200 million to $300 million, excluding large buys fueled by at-the-market sales of its perpetual preferred stock.
Notably, Bitmine's purchase marks its fourth consecutive month of escalating buys, starting with around $76 million per week in early January, and brings its total holdings to 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 following the February price drop, but Bitmine has continued to buy, with Lee attributing the buying pace to the late stages of a "mini-crypto winter" and a forming bottom in equity markets.
The firm 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 similar capital markets strategies, including equity issuance and convertible debt, to purchase crypto assets. Despite facing pressure in February and early March with nearly $8 billion in unrealized losses, Bitmine continued to buy, and its accumulation pace has not only held but accelerated, with ether rising 22% from its February lows. If this pattern persists, ether will have a corporate buyer absorbing supply each week, regardless of price, akin to Strategy's bitcoin buying pace.