Bitmine Immersion Technologies has stepped up its Ethereum accumulation again, adding tens of thousands of tokens as it closes in on its long-standing 5% target. The latest purchase is another step in the ramp-up of Bitmine ETH▲$1,761.17 treasury as the company continues to make the cryptocurrency its main balance-sheet asset.
Contents
- Bitmine Just Bought Another $69M in Ethereum
- Why Is Bitmine Trying to Own 5% of Ethereum?
- How Bitmine Became the World’s Largest Ethereum Treasury
- What Is Bitmine Doing With All That ETH?
- Why Tom Lee Is So Bullish on Ethereum
- Could Bitmine’s ETH Buying Push Ethereum Higher?
- The Risks Behind Bitmine’s Ethereum Strategy
- Bitmine vs Strategy: Is ETH Becoming the New Bitcoin Treasury?
- What Happens When Bitmine Reaches 5% of Ethereum?
- What Bitmine’s $69M ETH Purchase Means for Ethereum
- FAQ
Bitmine Just Bought Another $69M in Ethereum
At the time, Bitmine’s crypto, cash, marketable securities, and “moonshots” were worth $15.7 billion in total as of the September 8 update. Bitmine’s reporting included $593 million in cash and marketable securities. Bitmine was more liquid than Ethereum despite the latter having a much larger position.
How Much ETH Did Bitmine Buy?
Bitmine purchased 28,086 ETH the prior week. Therefore, assuming ETH price was $2,472 on September 8, CoinDesk estimated the purchase price to be about $69.4 million. In other words, the latest Bitmine buys ETH headline is simply covering yet another large acquisition by the company rather than a shift in strategy.
This came after 53,501 ETH were added during the previous reporting week, and when Bitmine reported holdings of 5,901,112 ETH as of 30 August.
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Bitmine’s Ethereum Holdings Reach 5.93 Million ETH
Following the acquisition, Bitmine’s balance sheet included 5,929,198 ETH. Based on an ETH price of $2,495, Bitmine considered ETH to be worth $14.79 billion, making it far and away the largest component of the company’s total assets of $15.7 billion.
That puts Bitmine in a relatively small category of public companies that are focused on building digital-asset treasuries, and CoinDesk describes it as the largest Ethereum-focused crypto treasury company. According to Bitmine’s statement, this accumulation campaign brought it close to the stated 5% goal in about 15 months.
| Metric | Latest Figure |
| Latest ETH purchase | 28,086 ETH |
| Estimated purchase value | $69.4 million |
| Total Ethereum holdings | 5,929,198 ETH |
| Estimated ETH holdings value | $14.79 billion |
| Share of Ethereum supply | ~4.9% |
| Progress toward 5% target | 97% |
| Estimated ETH needed to reach 5% | ~171,000 ETH |
| Total crypto, cash and other holdings | $15.7 billion |
Bitmine Now Controls 4.9% of Ethereum Supply
Bitmine claims they have 5.93 million ETH, or about 4.9% of the 122.0 million-token supply of Ethereum, and that they are 97% of the way to their “Alchemy of 5%” goal. Thus, Bitmine 5% Ethereum is not a goal for the long term, but for the short term.
Estimates by CoinDesk suggest that Bitmine would need to buy another 171,000 ETH to own 5% of the current circulating supply of Ethereum, but the number changes as new tokens are issued in the growing Ethereum supply.
Why Is Bitmine Trying to Own 5% of Ethereum?
Bitmine’s 5% goal is more than a round number portfolio target: per chairman Tom Lee, it would give the company a meaningful position in Ethereum and build a long-term corporate treasury around ETH.
As of 7 September, Bitmine held 5,929,198 ETH, or approximately 4.9% of the company’s Ethereum, or 122 million ETH. Therefore, Bitmine Ethereum 5% target is 97% complete after about 15 months.
Tom Lee’s “Alchemy of 5%” Strategy
Lee calls this plan the “Alchemy of 5%”. His thesis is that large ETH holders benefit when Wall Street moves more financial activity onto blockchains, and as new AI technologies create other economic activity on blockchains.
Tom Lee Bitmine has also funded its purchase program with equity rather than debt or convertible securities, and Lee has described the company’s accumulation program as a multi-year investment strategy rather than a short-term ETH trade.
How Much ETH Does Bitmine Need to Reach 5%?
According to Bitmine, at an ETH total supply of 122 million, 5% of ETH supply means around 6.1 million ETH, compared to the 5,929,198 ETH Bitmine owns, which is a difference of approximately 171,000 ETH. Thus, it follows that how much ETH does Bitmine need for 5% ultimately depends on Ethereum’s circulating supply at that point.
At the $2,495 ETH reference price on which Bitmine’s September 8 disclosure was based, the difference would amount to about $426 million, accounting for the continuously fluctuating ETH supply and market price.
Why 5% Could Matter for Ethereum’s Institutional Market
This 5% stake would make Bitmine one of the largest corporate holders of Ethereum, with more than 5.06 million ETH currently staked. The validator network from MAVAN, which was developed for Bitmine, is also used by institutional investors, custodians and others in the ecosystem.
Bitmine 5% ETH therefore had a strong rationale beyond the size of the placement or the size of its balance sheet, and explicitly stated its Ethereum strategy was about institutional adoption, tokenization and blockchain-based financial services.
These remain the company’s investment thesis and expectations, however, rather than guarantees of future ETH demand or price performance.
How Bitmine Became the World’s Largest Ethereum Treasury
In June 2025, Bitmine announced that it had sold its last crypto mining facility and that it would transition to an Ethereum treasury model. Bitmine now claims that it holds 5.93 million ETH, making it the largest Ethereum treasury among public companies and the second-largest corporate crypto treasury overall, behind Strategy’s Bitcoin position.
Bitmine’s Ethereum Treasury Strategy Since 2025
On 30 June 2025, Bitmine announced a $250 million private placement to exclusively fund Bitmine’s Ethereum treasury strategy, where Ethereum would serve as Bitmine’s primary treasury reserve asset. On 30 June 2025, Tom Lee was appointed as the chairman of the board. Investors included Founders Fund, Pantera, Kraken and Galaxy Digital.
In addition to just token holding, the BMNR Ethereum treasury was meant to increase the amount of ETH held per share through cash from operations and capital-market transactions. BMNR was also to deploy part of its capital in staking, validating, and other Ethereum activities.
How Fast Has Bitmine Accumulated ETH?
This accelerated accumulation allowed Bitmine to amass around 1.15 million ETH in just five weeks. By early 2026, this number had grown to over 4.28 million ETH, and on 7 September 2026, Bitmine Ethereum holdings had reached 5,929,198 ETH, accounting for around 4.9% of the total 122 million ETH supply of the company.
Bitmine states that it has purchased ETH weekly since June 30, 2025, with the maximum weekly purchase of 28,086 ETH, reaching 97% of the 5% supply goal in about 15 months.
Bitmine vs Other Ethereum Treasury Companies
Among publicly traded Ethereum treasury companies, Bitmine currently stands apart by sheer scale. According to its latest filed report with the SEC, the company had 5.93 million ETH tons for an estimated total of $14.8 billion at the 2,495 price referenced from September 7, making it the largest ETH treasury in the world.
The size of Bitmine places the company outside the Ethereum-treasury business: according to Bitmine, it is the world’s second-largest corporate crypto treasury overall, after Strategy, whose treasury for the most part is Bitcoin.
What Is Bitmine Doing With All That ETH?
Bitmine also puts the vast majority of its ETH to work rather than simply holding onto the tokens as treasury. Staking and validation are core to Bitmine Ethereum strategy and allow Bitmine to earn protocol rewards on a pool of 5.93 million ETH as of September 7.
More Than 5 Million ETH Is Already Staked
Bitmine had reported 5,067,309 staked ETH — about $12.6 billion at a reference price of $2,495 as of 7 September, which was approximately 85% of its Ethereum assets. The rest were staked in various other networks aside from MAVAN, Bitmine’s proprietary validator network.
The scale of the operation is growing quickly in 2026. For example, Bitmine staked 3.33 million ETH in early April, when its entire treasury was 4.8 million ETH, according to CoinDesk.
How Bitmine Generates Revenue From Ethereum Staking
Staking causes part of the BMNR ETH position to be a yield-bearing asset. Bitmine also operates validator nodes to derive rewards from Ethereum’s proof-of-stake validation activity. Its SEC filing showed staking and validation brought in $45.7 million in revenue in the three months ending May 31, or 98% of its quarterly revenue.
By September, Bitmine had staked 5.1 million ETH and achieved a seven-day annualized yield of 2.61%, amounting to annual staking profits of about $330 million. If Bitmine’s ETH had been fully staked with MAVAN and its staking partners at that yield, annualized staking rewards would have been about $386 million.
Note: These figures are projections, not guaranteed returns.
What MAVAN Means for Bitmine’s ETH Strategy
MAVAN (Made in America Validator Network) is the institutional-grade staking platform developed by Bitmine in 2026. Initially designed for staking Bitmine’s own Bitmine ETH reserves, the protocol has since been expanded to support institutions, custodians, and other partners within Ethereum ecosystem.
MAVAN also gives Bitmine more control over the hardware and software running its staking operations. Staking and validation are Bitmine’s main source of revenue, according to its regulatory filings. Other risks in Bitmine’s filings include slashing, validator downtime, liquidity issues, and changes to Ethereum’s reward distribution mechanism.
| Metric | Latest Figure |
| Total ETH holdings | 5.93 million ETH |
| ETH already staked | 5,067,309 ETH |
| Share of ETH holdings staked | ~85% |
| Estimated value of staked ETH | ~$12.6 billion |
| Seven-day annualized staking yield | 2.61% |
| Annualized staking revenue | ~$330 million |
| Potential rewards if fully staked* | ~$386 million |
| Proprietary validator network | MAVAN |
Why Tom Lee Is So Bullish on Ethereum
Tom Lee’s Ethereum thesis was based on the macroeconomic context driven by the traditional financial market’s continuing adoption of blockchain technology. In Bitmine’s most recent SEC report, Lee stated that, in Q3 2026 to date, ETH has been the top major macro asset, outperforming the S&P 500 index by 5,430 basis points through September 4.
For Tom Lee Ethereum is also a long-term infrastructure bet: he expects tokenization, stablecoins, and AI-driven economic activity to increase the use of blockchain networks, with Ethereum positioned to benefit from that shift. This remains Lee’s investment thesis rather than an established outcome.
Ethereum as a Macro Asset
Lee has also mentioned ETH as a potential candidate for institutional portfolio managers to have to evaluate through the macro lens, mentioning easing financial conditions in recent months as a potential tailwind for the sector, and ETH’s relative outperformance as a potential reason for institutions to elevate allocation.
This helps to understand why is Bitmine buying Ethereum at such scale. Bitmine acquired ETH every week since the beginning of its treasury strategy on June 30, 2025, including during the extreme volatility period.
Wall Street, Tokenization and Ethereum
Tokenization is also central to Lee’s bullish thesis, and he expects Wall Street investors to migrate financial assets and processes on-chain in the next cycle of Ethereum adoption, contrasting it with previous cycles of adoption from ICOs, NFTs and, more recently, stablecoins.
There is also evidence in numbers with what tokenization can deliver. According to CoinDesk Data, market capitalization of tokenized real-world assets reached a record $32.1 billion at the end of July 2026, 11.5% higher than a month before.
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Why Institutional ETH Demand Could Keep Growing
Lee argues prolonged strong performance in cryptocurrencies, tokenization, and regulatory changes could see institutional adoption take place. In Bitmine’s September update, they said institutional buying could begin in Q4 2026; however, this remains speculation and should be viewed as such.
Ethereum’s institutional ecosystem is being organized. In July, CoinDesk reported that an Ethereum Institutional initiative had been launched, sponsored by Standard Chartered and other major players in Ethereum, to make Ethereum network more accessible for financial institutions.
Could Bitmine’s ETH Buying Push Ethereum Higher?
The amount Bitmine buys does generate demand, but there is no evidence that Bitmine’s buying can tell Ethereum’s price where to go.
The company has purchased ETH weekly since June 2025, acquiring 5.93 million tokens, although ETH’s relative price still reflects overall cryptocurrency flows, macroeconomic backdrop and positioning by institutional players.
What Happens When a Corporate Treasury Buys Millions of ETH?
ETH sold to the treasury was subsequently held longer on a corporate balance sheet. Bitmine’s most recent ETH purchase consisted of 28,086 ETH compared to 53,501 ETH a week earlier.
Persistent Bitmine buys Ethereum activity therefore creates recurring spot demand, although its effect on price cannot be isolated from other market activity.
The scale is because Bitmine owns 4.9% of the total supply of 122 million ETH disclosed on 8 September, far larger than any Ethereum treasury disclosed in public records.
Does Bitmine Reduce the Liquid Supply of Ethereum?
Not all ETH held by Bitmine is liquid. 5,067,309 ETH — or 85% of its 5.93 million tokens — was staked via MAVAN and other staking partners as of September 7.
The implication of this is that the Bitmine ETH holdings are not purely liquid, as they include a very large staked position. Staked ETH should not be treated as permanently removed from circulating supply, as Ethereum allows validators to exit from staking and withdraw their funds.
How Much Could Institutional ETH Accumulation Matter?
Other public companies besides Bitmine also hold ETH. According to CoinDesk, the second biggest public ETH treasury is of SharpLink, which in June held some 876,285 ETH, but resumed its purchases with a 5,000 ETH purchase.
Beyond corporate treasuries, institutional exposure also came from U.S. spot Ether ETFs, with CoinDesk reporting $96 million of inflows over the first three days of one week in July.
Other channels for institutional ETH demand range from treasury companies and investment products, but sustained inflows and Ethereum price appreciation are not guaranteed.
The Risks Behind Bitmine’s Ethereum Strategy
The strategy has resulted in Bitmine amassing one of the largest corporate crypto asset portfolios in the world, which also ties the company closely to Ether’s performance.
Bitmine Ethereum holdings include 5.93 million ETH, per its latest regulatory filing. This was most of Bitmine’s reported $15.7 billion of crypto, cash, securities and other investments. Bitmine’s biggest risks self-reportedly include digital-asset volatility, liquidity and unrealized losses.
What Happens if ETH Price Falls?
If ETH declines for an extended period of time, the value of Bitmine’s holdings may decrease, and its accounting losses may increase. In the most recent quarterly report, the company reported $9.04 billion of digital asset unrealized loss for the nine months ended May 31, 2026, representing losses on crypto prices.
That exposure is a double-edged sword: As ETH appreciates in value, Bitmine’s treasury increases in value, but if ETH tanks, billions can be wiped off Bitmine’s net worth. Bitmine warns that, with its increased holdings in ETH, its price exposure and liquidity risks also increase.
The Risk of Concentrating Millions of ETH in One Company
This scale creates concentration risk for Bitmine. At the time of disclosure on September 7, Bitmine held approximately 4.9% of the 122 million ETH in circulation, despite over 5.07 million ETH having been staked at that moment.
Any single, highly volatile crypto asset will subject Bitmine’s financial condition and results to fluctuations of that single crypto asset. Risks related to Ethereum staking, custody, regulation and blockchain infrastructure described in its regulatory filings become more pronounced as Bitmine ETH exposure increases.
Can Bitmine Keep Raising Capital to Buy ETH?
Bitmine has financed its growth mainly through equity capital. Per the May 2026 quarterly report, equity capital programs such as its at-the-market program are the key source of liquidity for Bitmine. The company would also go on to raise net proceeds of $273.8 million in an offering of Series A preferred stock.
Whether this model remains viable in the future depends on markets and on investor appetite. Selling additional common shares to fund these withdrawals dilutes existing shareholders. Other sources have their costs.
Bitmine notes it continues to evaluate potential opportunities to deploy available capital, including additional purchases of digital assets, but fundraising is not guaranteed.
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Why Bitmine Stock Is Not the Same as Owning ETH
If you own shares in BMNR, you own shares in a company that owns Ethereum. You also own shares that are subject to Bitmine’s corporate operating expenses, to the company’s decisions about the capital stack, staking, other investments, and other changes in total shares outstanding.
That distinction matters for investors viewing BMNR Ethereum treasury exposure as an ETH proxy. BMNR can trade above or below the value attributable to its underlying crypto holdings, meaning its returns do not have to track Ethereum one-for-one.
| Risk | Why It Matters |
| ETH price volatility | Falling ETH prices can sharply reduce treasury value |
| Asset concentration | Bitmine holds about 4.9% of Ethereum’s reported supply |
| Staking risk | Validator downtime, slashing and liquidity issues can affect returns |
| Capital raising | Continued ETH purchases depend partly on access to external financing |
| Shareholder dilution | New equity issuance can dilute existing BMNR shareholders |
| Stock-price divergence | BMNR shares do not necessarily track ETH one-for-one |
| Regulatory risk | Changes affecting Ethereum, staking or digital assets could impact operations |
Bitmine vs Strategy: Is ETH Becoming the New Bitcoin Treasury?
Bitmine has applied the corporate crypto treasury strategy to Ethereum at a scale not seen before. It holds 5.93 million ETH, making it the largest Ethereum treasury and second largest corporate crypto treasury after Strategy. While the comparison is becoming more relevant, the backing assets of the two models differ.
Bitmine’s ETH Strategy vs Strategy’s Bitcoin Strategy
Strategy calls itself the world’s first Bitcoin Treasury Company. As of the end of Q2 2026, it holds 846,000 BTC▲$62,630.00. The business model relies on raising capital via common stock, preferred securities, and debt while gradually increasing the BTC owned per share over time.
Bitmine also uses public market capital to build up a concentrated crypto treasury. Bitmine ETH is also used as staked collateral in Ethereum staking. As of 7 September, of Bitmine’s 5.93 million ETH, 5.07 million ETH had been staked, which would earn an annualized staking revenue of $330 million at the then-current yield.
Why Ethereum Treasury Companies Are Different
Unlike Bitcoin, ETH uses proof-of-stake, allowing Ethereum treasury companies to earn protocol rewards by staking ETH. However, staking comes with risks, including those related to the performance of validators, liquidity, and the economics of participating in a changing network.
Bitmine develops its institutional-grade validator infrastructure, MAVAN, based on this capability. The platform was originally built to serve Bitmine’s treasury but is now also used for institutional investors, custodians, and other players in the ecosystem.
Could Bitmine Become the “Strategy of Ethereum”?
By treasury size, Bitmine has already established the clearest Ethereum parallel to Strategy, owning 4.9% of ETH supply, based on disclosures of its treasury holdings — now $14.8 billion. Bitmine states that it has purchased ETH weekly since starting its Ethereum strategy in June 2025 (two months before launching the new product).
Bitmine has generally not been quoted in the market as the “Strategy of Ethereum”.
Strategy remains bigger in reported total digital asset value, but Bitmine combines accumulation with staking and validation infrastructure. This means that rather than merely copying Strategy’s Bitcoin accumulation play with ETH, the Bitmine ETH treasury has had to develop its own play.
| Metric | Bitmine | Strategy |
| Primary treasury asset | Ethereum (ETH) | Bitcoin (BTC) |
| Reported holdings | 5.93M ETH | 846,000 BTC |
| Core approach | Accumulate and stake ETH | Accumulate BTC |
| Protocol yield | Available through ETH staking | No native BTC staking yield |
| Treasury infrastructure | MAVAN validator network | Bitcoin-focused treasury operations |
| Capital strategy | Public-market financing | Equity, preferred stock and debt |
| Key additional risk | Staking and validator risks | Bitcoin price and financing risks |
What Happens When Bitmine Reaches 5% of Ethereum?
Bitmine would have met its target at 5% when it first announced its ETH treasury plan in June 2025, though this may not result in plan termination. Lee told Bankless that the firm would consider increasing the position beyond 5% as institutional use cases for Ethereum arise, but will revisit the decision in 2027.
How Much ETH Will Bitmine Need to Buy?
Bitmine now owns 5,929,198 ETH as of 7 September, according to the latest disclosure, about 4.9% of the 122 million ETH supply. In other words, 5% of the supply is 6.1 million ETH, a discrepancy of about 171,000 ETH.
The answer to how much Ethereum does Bitmine own is currently 5,929,198 ETH, while the amount it still needs to buy depends on Ethereum’s total supply. Bitmine currently says it has achieved 97% of its “Alchemy of 5%” goal.
Will Bitmine Keep Accumulating ETH After 5%?
That hasn’t been decided either way, but Lee said it could make sense for ETH to be worth much more than 5% if more companies treat ETH as an asset they want to hold and use. For now, he said Bitmine expects to revisit that question in 2027.
Even if it never bought any treasury assets again, staking would make the company’s ETH assets expected to grow, so Lee said Bitmine could hypothetically liquidate the staking rewards if it wanted to keep its ETH percentage close to 5%.
Could 5% Become the Starting Point for a Bigger Ethereum Treasury?
That may be true, but Bitmine has yet to commit to any higher target. Lee said that if Ethereum is adopted by enterprises, it would make sense for Bitmine to want to own greater than 5% of ETH in circulation, but Bitmine is more likely to find productive ETH uses than to sell its core ETH holdings.
As such, the current stated goal is still Bitmine 5% ETH staking threshold, and with the last company disclosure showing 5.07 million ETH staked, Bitmine’s strategy has increasingly turned towards a mix of accumulation, staking, and validator infrastructure and no longer solely holding ETH on its balance sheet.
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What Bitmine’s $69M ETH Purchase Means for Ethereum
Industry observers suggested that Bitmine’s purchase of 28,086 ETH, valued at $69.4 million, would further cement its status as the largest corporate treasury Ethereum holder, as through this acquisition, Bitmine Ethereum holding are 5,929,198 ETH or approximately 4.9% of ETH total supply as of the company’s report.
The Bitmine acquisition also considerably increases the amount they are acquiring in their active weekly accumulation campaign that began in June 2025 with over 5M ETH already staked, as a large portion of Bitmine’s stake is used for earning staking rewards.
For Ethereum, while the deal is a sign of sustained corporate demand and Bitmine’s progress towards its 5% target, it does not in its own right support higher ETH prices, which are determined by market demand, other institutional flows, and macroeconomic conditions.
FAQ
How Much Ethereum Does Bitmine Currently Hold?
For investors asking how much ETH does Bitmine have, the company reported 5,929,198 ETH as of September 7, 2026, approximately 4.9% of Ethereum’s supply.
Why Does Bitmine Want to Own 5% of Ethereum?
Bitmine hoped to capture 5% of the network, ensuring a strong position in Ethereum ecosystem. Chairman Tom Lee referred to this as the “Alchemy of 5%”.
How Much More ETH Does Bitmine Need to Reach 5%?
Based on the reported 122 million ETH supply, Bitmine would need to receive a total of about 171,000 ETH in order for the company to own 5% of Ethereum’s asset supply, but this will vary.
How Much of Bitmine’s Ethereum Is Staked?
Bitmine staked 5,067,309 ETH as of 7 September — 85% of their ETH holdings — and therefore will receive a share of the rewards from Ethereum’s proof of stake system.
Will Bitmine Continue Buying Ethereum After Reaching 5%?
Bitmine has not indicated plans to amass over 5% again, though Tom Lee stated that the company could change its mind in 2027.
