A second major player in the corporate accumulation of cryptocurrencies is emerging with a strategy similar to that of the first. Bitmine Immersion Technologies, led by Fundstrat's Tom Lee, has purchased 101,901 ether, valued at approximately $234 million, in its largest weekly buy this year. This move brings Bitmine's accumulation pace closer to that of Strategy, a firm known for its consistent weekly bitcoin purchases, as highlighted by crypto trader Luke Martin. Strategy's typical weekly buys range from $200 million to $300 million, excluding large purchases fueled by at-the-market sales of its perpetual preferred stock, STRC.
By stripping out these outliers, Bitmine's recent purchase marks a significant milestone, capping a four-month streak of escalating buys that started at roughly $76 million per week in early January. The firm now holds over 5 million tokens, representing about 4.21% of the second-largest cryptocurrency's circulating supply. This development is noteworthy as Bitmine is now the only major corporate crypto buyer keeping pace alongside Strategy.
Most digital asset treasury companies paused or slowed accumulation during the February price drop, but Bitmine has continued to buy, with Lee framing the current market as being in the late stages of a 'mini-crypto winter' and a bottom forming in equity markets. Since pivoting to its current strategy in June 2025, Bitmine has reached the 5 million ETH milestone in roughly 10 months, with about 73% of those tokens staked to generate approximately $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 firms employ a playbook of capital markets activity to purchase crypto assets, with Strategy using preferred stock and convertible debt, and Bitmine using equity issuance. Despite facing pressure in February and early March due to unrealized losses, Bitmine continued to buy, and two months later, ether has risen 22% from its February lows, with Bitmine's accumulation pace not only holding but accelerating.
While Strategy's April 21 purchase of $2.54 billion remains the largest single corporate crypto buy of the year, Bitmine's $234 million purchase last week marks the first time the structural baselines have come within striking distance of each other. If this pattern continues for another month, ether will have a corporate buyer absorbing supply each week, regardless of price, a development it has never seen before.