A notable trend is emerging in the cryptocurrency market, with Bitmine Immersion Technologies, led by Fundstrat's Tom Lee, increasingly mirroring the bitcoin accumulation strategy of Strategy, headed by Michael Saylor. Last week, Bitmine acquired 101,901 ether, valued at approximately $234 million, its largest weekly purchase this year.
This move brings Bitmine's accumulation pace closer to Strategy's, once the latter's large, at-the-market stock sales are factored out. Strategy's typical weekly purchases range from $200 million to $300 million, excluding the occasional massive spikes fueled by its perpetual preferred stock sales. Bitmine's purchase capped a four-month streak of escalating buys, which started at around $76 million per week in early January, and it now holds over 5 million tokens, representing about 4.21% of the second-largest cryptocurrency's circulating supply. This development is significant, as Bitmine is now the only major corporate crypto buyer keeping pace with Strategy.
Most digital asset treasury companies slowed or paused accumulation following the February price drop, but Bitmine continued its buying streak. According to Tom Lee, the current 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. Since pivoting to its current strategy in June 2025, Bitmine has staked about 73% of its tokens, generating roughly $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 Strategy and Bitmine employ similar capital markets strategies to purchase crypto assets, with a focus on equity issuance and convertible debt. Despite facing pressure in February and early March, when it was sitting on nearly $8 billion in unrealized losses, Bitmine maintained its buying pace. Two months later, ether has risen 22% from its February lows, and Bitmine's accumulation pace has accelerated. While Strategy's $2.54 billion purchase in April remains the largest single corporate crypto buy of the year, Bitmine's $234 million purchase last week marks the first time the two firms' structural baselines have come within striking distance of each other.
If this pattern continues, ether may soon have a consistent corporate buyer absorbing supply each week, regardless of price, similar to Strategy's role in the bitcoin market.