BitMine chairman Tom Lee said the company is likely to slow its pace of Ethereum purchases as it approaches a target of holding 5% of ETH’s circulating supply. Lee made the comments Thursday at Consensus 2026 in Miami, noting the firm is reassessing whether it wants to keep buying at its current velocity and estimating that, if unchanged, it could hit the 5% mark in roughly six weeks.
“We are probably going to slow down our pace of buying,” Lee said onstage, adding that BitMine may not want to reach 5% too quickly. The company has been one of the most aggressive public-market buyers of ETH. As of May 3, BitMine reported owning 5.18 million ETH, about 4.29% of the estimated 120.7 million ETH supply, and said it was roughly 86% of the way toward what it calls the “Alchemy of 5%” after acquiring 101,745 ETH the prior week.
Lee cited competing capital priorities as a reason to temper purchases. Recent corporate developments — including the company’s New York Stock Exchange listing, a $4 billion share buyback authorization, and expansion of its staking business — could influence how BitMine deploys capital going forward.
On staking, BitMine reported 4.36 million ETH staked as of May 3, which it valued at about $10.2 billion using an ETH price of $2,336. The company said annualized staking revenue had reached $297 million and that its own staking operations were generating a seven-day annualized yield of roughly 2.91%.
The potential slowdown contrasts with BitMine’s recent buying spree that propelled it to become the largest corporate ETH treasury in the world and the second-largest crypto treasury overall, behind Strategy. BitMine said its total holdings in crypto, cash and strategic investments totaled $13.1 billion, including 200 BTC, about $700 million in cash, and equity stakes in companies such as Beast Industries and Eightco Holdings.
Lee reiterated BitMine’s bullish view on ETH, arguing the token stands to gain from increased Wall Street tokenization and the development of agentic AI systems that require public, neutral blockchain infrastructure. BitMine continues to position ETH as its primary treasury reserve asset, integrating staking, tokenization and DeFi-related infrastructure into its strategy.
At the time of the report, ETH traded near $2,300, down roughly 2% on the day. BitMine’s stock (BMNR) traded near $21.97, implying a market capitalization around $11.8 billion.