Tom Lee delayed his purchase of Bitmine ETH after the company accumulated over 5.2 million tokens and 4.3% of Ethereum’s supply.
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Bitmine bought 26,659 ETH worth about $63 million last week, down from more than 100,000 ETH in each of the previous three weeks. Tom Lee said that at the previous pace, Bitmine should have reached 5% of its Ethereum supply target by mid-July, but this prompted a slowdown. Bitmine has over 4.7 million ETH staked, generating an estimated $319 million in annual staking rewards at current yields.
Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) bought 26,659 ETH worth roughly $63 million last week, a significant decrease from the more than 100,000 ETH it had been acquiring weekly for several months. This purchase increases its total holdings to more than 5.2 million ETH, worth approximately $12.1 billion, making Bitmine the world’s largest Ethereum treasury company.
Chairman Tom Lee said the company deliberately slowed down. “We have decided to slow down the pace of weekly accumulation from more than 100,000 cases per week,” he said. “At the previous pace of purchases, we will reach 5% by mid-July.”
Reasons why Bitmine refrains from purchasing
Bitmine initially expected to reach its 5% Ethereum supply goal by the end of 2026. The aggressive pace of accumulation has shortened that timeline to weeks, prompting a reassessment. The company currently holds 4.31% of Ethereum’s circulating supply of approximately 120.7 million ETH.
Lee pointed to Ethereum’s recent price recovery and reiterated his view that “crypto spring” has begun. “If ETH closes above $2,100 at the end of May, this will be the third straight month of gains, something we have never seen before in a crypto bear market,” he said.
Since the beginning of 2026, Bitmine has acquired over 1 million ETH. The company’s total holdings in cryptocurrencies, cash, and stock totaled $13.4 billion as of May 10, including 201 Bitcoin, $200 million in Beast Industries stock, and $775 million in cash.
Staking strategy and future development
Bitmine has staked 4,712,917 ETH, representing over 90% of its total holdings and generating an estimated annual staking reward of $319 million based on a 7-day yield of 2.86%. This makes the company the largest ETH staker among public companies in the world.
The company’s MAVAN staking platform, launched in early 2026, is positioned to serve institutional clients alongside Bitmine’s own treasury operations.
Lee said the two main drivers for Ethereum going forward are Wall Street’s move toward tokenization and the rise of agent AI systems that rely on public blockchains for payments and verification.
