Bitmine's Ether Holdings Reach 5.82M ETH, Closing In on 5% of Ethereum Supply
Key Takeaways
- •Bitmine bought 9,926 Ether in the week ending Aug. 16, raising its total to about 5.82 million ETH.
- •Its holdings equal roughly 4.8% of Ethereum’s circulating supply and put it close to its 5% target.
- •At a reference price of $1,893, Bitmine’s Ether treasury was valued at about $11 billion.
- •Industry data shows the company has more than $8.4 billion in unrealized losses on its ETH holdings.
- •Bitmine said it is staking more than 5 million ETH and projects annualized staking rewards of about $287 million.
Tom Lee's Bitmine Immersion Technologies, an Ethereum treasury company, resumed its Ether purchases last week, moving closer to a key business target of owning 5% of the second-largest cryptocurrency's supply despite challenging market conditions.
The company disclosed Monday that it acquired 9,926 Ether (ETH) during the week ending Aug. 16, lifting its total holdings to roughly 5.82 million ETH — about 4.8% of Ethereum's circulating supply. At an ETH reference price of $1,893, Bitmine's Ether holdings were valued at roughly $11 billion. Much of the company's ETH, however, was acquired at significantly higher prices.
Ether's price was little changed on Monday, sitting just above $1,900.
The latest purchase puts Bitmine within striking distance of its long-term "Alchemy of 5%" target of holding 5% of the total ETH supply — implying a stake of roughly 6 million ETH at current supply levels.
Bitmine's conviction has been tested by a prolonged bear market for Ether, which has sharply eroded the value of its digital asset treasury. According to industry data, the company is sitting on more than $8.4 billion in unrealized losses on its ETH holdings. With a portfolio value of more than $11 billion, Bitmine's unrealized losses stand at around 43% (Source: DropsTab).
Still, Bitmine has continued accumulating Ether, making purchases every week since launching its ETH treasury strategy in June 2025. The company, chaired by Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee, is the largest of a wave of publicly traded firms — alongside SharpLink Gaming and Bit Digital — that adopted ETH treasury strategies in 2025, adapting the corporate bitcoin-buying playbook pioneered by Michael Saylor's Strategy. Its buying has been funded in part by a roughly $2.5 billion private placement announced in June 2025, with investors including Peter Thiel's Founders Fund and Pantera Capital.
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Bitmine's staked Ether approaches $10 billion in value
Although Bitmine is sitting on large unrealized losses on its Ether holdings, its staking operations continue to generate yield. The company said it is staking more than 5 million ETH, worth roughly $9.6 billion at current prices — a stake that makes it one of the largest staking entities on the Ethereum network.
That staking has enabled Bitmine to earn protocol rewards for helping secure the Ethereum network, providing a predictable source of yield regardless of short-term ETH price movements. Ethereum has run on a proof-of-stake consensus system since its 2022 Merge, paying rewards to validators who lock up coins to process transactions and secure the chain. Based on a seven-day staking yield of 2.61%, Bitmine projects annualized staking rewards of roughly $287 million, according to Lee.
Because Bitmine discloses its purchases weekly, its progress toward the 5% threshold — and the staking rewards those holdings generate — will be visible in each report.
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