A second major corporate player in the cryptocurrency market is now mirroring the accumulation strategy of the first. Bitmine Immersion Technologies, led by Fundstrat's Tom Lee, acquired 101,901 ether, valued at approximately $234 million, in its most substantial weekly purchase of the year. This move brings Bitmine's buying pace closer to that of Strategy, the digital treasury firm headed by Michael Saylor, which regularly buys bitcoin worth between $200 million and $300 million per week, excluding large purchases fueled by its STRC stock sales. Notably, Bitmine has been escalating its purchases over the past four months, starting from around $76 million per week in January, and now holds over 5 million tokens, roughly 4.21% of the circulating supply of the second-largest cryptocurrency.
The significance of this development lies in Bitmine's emergence as a major corporate buyer keeping pace with Strategy, particularly as most digital asset treasury companies have paused or slowed their accumulation following the February price drop. Lee attributes the buying pace to the late stages of a 'mini-crypto winter' and the formation of a bottom in equity markets. Since pivoting to its current strategy in June 2025, Bitmine has reached the 5 million ETH milestone in approximately 10 months, with about 73% of these tokens staked to generate around $264 million in annualized revenue from yield.
The firm's total crypto and cash holdings stood at $13.3 billion as of early April. Both Bitmine and Strategy employ a similar capital markets strategy, utilizing equity issuance and convertible debt to purchase crypto assets. Despite facing pressure in February and early March due to unrealized losses, Bitmine continued its buying strategy, which has now accelerated with ether up 22% from its February lows.
While Strategy's $2.54 billion purchase in April remains the largest corporate crypto buy of the year, Bitmine's recent $234 million purchase marks the first time the two firms' structural baselines have come close to each other. If this pattern persists, ether may soon have a consistent corporate buyer absorbing supply weekly, regardless of price.