A second major corporate player in the cryptocurrency market is emerging with a buying strategy similar to that of the first. Bitmine Immersion Technologies, led by Tom Lee, has purchased 101,901 ether, valued at approximately $234 million, in its largest weekly buy this year. This move brings Bitmine closer to Strategy, led by Michael Saylor, in terms of weekly cryptocurrency purchases, once the large purchases fueled by at-the-market sales of its perpetual preferred stock are excluded. The large purchases, which occurred in mid-January, late February, late March, and April 21, totaling $2.54 billion, are considered outliers rather than the norm.
Bitmine's purchase marks its largest weekly accumulation of 2026, following a four-month streak of increasing buys that started at around $76 million per week in early January. The company now holds over 5 million tokens, accounting for about 4.21% of the second-largest cryptocurrency's circulating supply. This development is significant because Bitmine is now the only major corporate crypto buyer keeping pace with Strategy.
Most digital asset treasury companies paused or slowed accumulation during the February price drop, but Bitmine has continued to buy, with Lee stating that ETH is in the late stages of a 'mini-crypto winter' and a bottom is forming in equity markets. The firm has staked about 73% of its tokens, generating roughly $264 million in annualized revenue from yield, with total crypto and cash holdings at $13.3 billion as of early April. Both firms use 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, Bitmine has continued to buy, with ether up 22% from its February lows and the firm's accumulation pace 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 brings the structural baselines of the two firms within striking distance of each other.