Bitmine Immersion Technologies has stepped up its Ether buying recently, chairman Tom Lee said Monday, following an over-the-counter purchase of 5,000 ETH directly from the Ethereum Foundation. Lee said Bitmine acquired 60,999 ETH over the past week, above its recent weekly average of roughly 45,000–50,000 ETH.
Those purchases bring Bitmine’s public Ethereum treasury to 4.596 million ETH, or about 3.81% of total supply. The company reported combined crypto holdings, cash and other investments of about $11.5 billion.
Approximately 3,040,515 ETH — roughly 66% of Bitmine’s holdings — are currently staked, valued at about $6.6 billion using an Ether price of $2,185. Bitmine estimates staking operations generate around $180 million in annualized revenue and plans to expand staking through its Made in America Validator Network (MAVAN), expected to launch in the coming months.
Bitmine said the 5,000 ETH OTC deal with the Ethereum Foundation was structured to let the foundation fund operations without selling on the open market. Bitmine shares (BMNR) closed Monday up nearly 14% at $23.39, per Yahoo Finance.
The announcement came the same day Strategy — the world’s largest Bitcoin treasury company — disclosed a purchase of 22,337 BTC for $1.57 billion, taking its total holdings above 760,000 BTC.
Corporate treasuries now control more than 5% of Ether supply
While many public companies have slowed Ether accumulation over the past month, Bitmine has been rapidly expanding. CoinGecko data shows that among the 20 largest corporate Ether treasuries, only four increased holdings in the last 30 days. Bitmine added 269,824 ETH in that span, far more than SharpLink (3,859 ETH) and Eightco (11,068 ETH).
Eightco raised $125 million last week to expand investments in blockchain and AI; Bitmine led the round with $75 million, and ARK Invest and Payward (Kraken’s parent) each put in $25 million. Tom Lee joined Eightco’s board as part of the deal.
Across the market, 30 public entities in seven countries hold about 6.6 million ETH, roughly $15.4 billion and about 5.47% of Ether’s total supply, according to CoinGecko.
Ether was trading near $2,342 — up almost 11% over 24 hours but down about 21% year-to-date — giving the token a market capitalization near $282 billion with roughly 120.7 million ETH in circulation.
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