A second major corporate player in the cryptocurrency market, Bitmine Immersion Technologies, is mirroring the buying strategy of its rival, Strategy. Led by Fundstrat's Tom Lee, Bitmine purchased 101,901 ether, valued at approximately $234 million, in its largest weekly buy this year. This move brings the company's buying pace closer to that of Strategy, which is led by Michael Saylor and is known for its significant bitcoin purchases.
Notably, Strategy's weekly buys typically range from $200 million to $300 million, excluding large purchases fueled by the sale of its perpetual preferred stock, STRC. Bitmine's recent purchase marks its largest weekly accumulation of ether in 2026, capping 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 ether 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 buyer keeping pace with Strategy's bitcoin accumulation.
Most digital asset treasury companies halted or slowed their accumulation during the February price drop, but Bitmine has continued to buy, with Lee attributing this to his belief that the market 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 approximately 73% of its tokens, generating around $264 million in annualized revenue from yield. As of early April, the firm's total crypto and cash holdings stood at $13.3 billion. Both Bitmine and Strategy employ a similar playbook of capital markets activity to purchase crypto assets.
Despite facing pressure in February and early March, when it was sitting on nearly $8 billion in unrealized losses, Bitmine continued to buy, and its accumulation pace has not only held but 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 brings the structural baselines of the two firms 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.