Bitmine Immersion Technologies is preparing to take its foot off the gas. Chairman Tom Lee said Wednesday that the company will halt its Ethereum buying once its holdings reach 5% of the token's circulating supply, drawing a hard line under one of the crypto market's steadiest sources of demand.

Speaking at the Token2049 conference in Singapore, Lee said the NYSE-listed firm, the world's largest Ethereum treasury company, is roughly 100,000 ETH away from the threshold. It holds 6,016,414 ETH, or about 4.9% of supply, as of its latest disclosure. At last week's pace, that would mean about six to seven more weeks of accumulation before the buying stops.

Bitmine added roughly $41 million in ETH just last week as it closed in on the goal it brands the Alchemy of 5%. (Disclosure: Tom Lee is one of several investors in Dastan, Decrypt's parent company.)

"We thought this would take five years," said Lee, who also co-founded the research firm Fundstrat Global Advisors. "It took us a little over a year. More importantly, we did this all in the middle of a bear market," he said. "Now we're going to stop."

🚨BREAKING: Tom Lee says BitMine will "STOP" buying ETH at 5% "hard cap." "We only need to get another 100,000 ETH to get to 5%," Lee said on stage at Token2049. Lee called 5% BitMine's "hard cap," saying it optimizes shareholder value.
— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) October 7, 2026

https://x.com/coinbureau/status/2107763103756878003?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

According to Coin Bureau, which live-posted Lee's appearance, the chairman described the 5% mark as Bitmine's "hard cap," saying the level optimizes shareholder value.

The company has bought Ethereum every week since launching its treasury strategy in June 2025, providing a reliable bid that helped underpin the token through a choppy stretch. Bitmine is the largest of a wave of digital asset treasury firms have accumulated sizable cryptocurrency positions, and its weekly purchases have been a persistent, programmatic source of demand — one that has absorbed a steady stream of ETH for more than a year. That makes the coming stop notable for the broader market: if the six-to-seven-week timeline holds, an unbroken weekly buying streak would end for the first time since the strategy launched.

Lee has previously signaled the company could even sell Ethereum earned through staking — rewards paid to holders who lock up tokens to help secure the network — to keep its share of supply from drifting above the 5% cap, a lever that could come into play once the ceiling is reached.

The milestone arrives with Bitmine deep underwater on paper. Because much of its accumulation happened last year at higher prices during the bull market, the firm's ETH holdings carry roughly $4.5 billion in unrealized losses — losses that remain on paper unless the holdings are sold — according to tracking data, with Ethereum trading near $2,570 on Wednesday.

Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value, is down 5.5% on the day, outpacing losses across most major crypto assets. The token dropped sharply during Asia trading hours, a slide that coincided with Lee's remarks.

Still, Lee framed the achievement as a point of pride, noting that Bitmine compressed a five-year plan into just over a year of relentless weekly purchases. Once the 5% ceiling is reached, the company's defining buying spree — and the steady market demand it generated — will come to a close.

Source: Decrypt