- BitMine increased its Ethereum holdings to over 3.62 million ETH, taking up over 3% control of the token’s circulating supply.
- The company’s chairman, Tom Lee, expects downside risks but remains bullish on Ether’s “supercycle.”
Strategy (MSTR) appears to have skipped the Bitcoin (BTC) dip last week, but BitMine Immersion just displayed its resolve amid the FUD by stacking up more Ethereum (ETH). On Monday, the Bitcoin miner turned digital asset treasury (DAT) company focused on the second-largest crypto asset by market cap, announced buying 69,822 of the token.
The purchase amounted to approximately $200 million, or $2,800 per ETH. The company didn’t mention the exact dates of the latest batch of acquisitions. Nonetheless, if it indeed executed the transactions last week between November 16 and 23, it had a chance to buy the digital asset while it was hovering just above $3,200 to $2,600 in crypto exchanges.
Locking Up 3% of Ethereum’s Total Supply
The move propelled BitMine to an important milestone within its ecosystem, as it now has over 3.62 million ETH. The numbers make up 3% of Ether’s 12.69 million circulating supply.
BitMine’s control in the Ethereum network is now almost at the same level as Strategy’s influence in the Bitcoin chain. The latter’s disclosure last week revealed that it already possessed 649,870 BTC, accounting for roughly 3.26% of the asset’s circulating supply.
Amid Ether’s fluctuation around $2,700 low and $2,900 high over the last 24 hours, the business chaired by Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee’s ETH holdings ranged from $9.8 billion to $10.53 billion. These come on top of its reported $38 million stake in Eightco Holdings (ORBS) and 192 BTC haul on Sunday, which is worth $16.32 million to $16.89 million as of Monday’s intraday trading.
Additionally, BitMine maintains approximately $800 million in unencumbered cash. This puts its crypto, cash, and “moonshots” holdings at over $11 billion.
Tom Lee’s Projections
Lee maintained his expectations for Ethereum’s possible slide to $2,500 a pop, citing “impaired liquidity” since the massive crypto liquidations on October 10. He said the wipe-outs also significantly weakened the technical readings on ETH’s price.
“This implies asymmetric risk/reward as the downside is 5% to 7%, while the upside is the supercycle ahead for Ethereum,” Lee explained.
Previously, Lee notably reminded investors of the hurdles Bitcoin had conquered on its way to its all-time high of $126,198.07 last October. Along the way, BTC experienced six massive drops averaging 50% and three dips by 70%.
The BitMine chair claimed Ether is now similarly positioned as Bitcoin was 8.5 years ago. Despite ongoing market uncertainty, he believes ETH is gearing up for a supercycle that could see its value skyrocket 100 times, mirroring BTC’s experience.
