Bitmine announces largest Ethereum purchase of 2026 as holdings near 4% of total supply

Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) announced this Monday that it had recently purchased almost 61,000 Ethereum. This news means that the firm currently holds nearly 4% of the digital asset’s total supply.

Today, Bitmine announced that it added an additional 60,999 Ethereum to its balance sheet over the last week, bringing the company’s total holdings to nearly 4.6 million ETH. At current prices, this is valued at roughly $10.5 billion USD. This represents the majority of the firm’s nearly $11.5 billion investment portfolio, with the rest of its holdings mainly consisting of Bitcoin and cash.

The ETH-focused crypto treasury firm has the long-term goal of acquiring 5% of the total supply of assets. Bitmine is rapidly closing in on that achievement with its Ethereum treasury position now representing around 3.8% of total supply.

This news marks the largest weekly Ethereum purchase by Bitmine in 2026, though only slightly greater than its prior weekly accumulation of 60,976 tokens. The firm has remained undeterred by overall negative price action in cryptocurrency markets, continuing to double down on its aggressive ETH accumulation strategy in the new year.

The price of BMNR’s stock rose 12% today at market open, and ETH hit a high of $2,300 this morning.

Why is Bitmine aggressively purchasing ETH?

Bitmine initially rose to prominence as a blockchain company focused on immersion-cooled Bitcoin mining centers. Under the leadership of the company’s new chairman and public spokesperson, Tom Lee, it has since pivoted to an Ethereum-focused investment strategy. This change in direction has now positioned them among the world’s largest institutional holders of ETH.

Tom Lee is incredibly bullish on Ethereum, notably because he believes it is becoming the base layer for tokenized finance. Credibility for this idea exists in the recent tokenization push to bring real-world assets on-chain, as most major financial institutions involved in this initiative are building on the Ethereum blockchain.

Tokenization is projected to be a multi-trillion-dollar industry by 2030, which could bring unprecedented value to ETH so long as it remains the foundation of this movement. Additionally, unlike Bitcoin, ETH’s proof-of-stake (POS) system allows holders to earn yield on their investment. This has the potential to generate more capital for Bitmine over time as opposed to holding BTC. According to Bitmine, a large share of its Ethereum holdings is currently staked and generating $180 million in annual revenue.

Tom Lee remains bullish on ETH despite losses

Tom Lee believes that crypto markets are approaching the end of what he described as a “mini-crypto winter.” If this belief holds, it will certainly justify the firm’s rapid accumulation of Ethereum, as its current low prices could be seen as a discount. Ethereum is down 22% since the start of the year and is currently trading at roughly 55-60% below its all-time-high of $4,950 in August 2025.

Lee has obviously remained unfazed by this decline in value, even as Bitmine’s estimated total losses currently exceed $6 billion. Regarding current market conditions, Lee stated in an interview that the Iran war has had little impact on cryptocurrency prices compared to other markets, such as oil.

He believes that fears of a global economic slowdown triggered by higher oil prices will prompt more investors to buy assets such as crypto and software stocks. Lee backed up this claim by stating that since the start of the Iran war, Ethereum has outperformed the S&P 500.