Bitmine Immersion Technologies, led by Chairman Tom Lee, has acquired 101,901 ether tokens, bringing its total holdings to over 5 million, roughly 4.21% of the circulating supply. This milestone was achieved in approximately 10 months, following the company's shift from bitcoin mining to a digital asset treasury strategy.
The recent purchase, valued at around $236 million, marks a significant increase in the company's ether holdings, with most digital asset treasuries remaining inactive. 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. Approximately 73% of its ether holdings, or 3.7 million tokens, are staked, generating around $264 million in annualized revenue. Tom Lee has highlighted ether's evolving role, framing it as a 'wartime store of value' due to its increasing use as collateral in financial transactions and its outperformance of the S&P 500 since the start of the Iran conflict.