- Bitmine raised its Ethereum holdings to more than 6 million tokens, now controlling nearly 4.92% of all ETH in circulation.
- The company generates an estimated $358 million annually in passive revenue from Ether staking.
- Vitalik Buterin suggests Ethereum is transitioning from a mere blockchain to a cryptographic computer.
Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) has executed another major Ethereum (ETH) acquisition over the past week. On Monday, it announced adding 17,362 ETH to increase its overall holdings to 6,001,302 ETH.
The company didn’t disclose the amount at which it bought the tokens. However, it estimated the purchase at roughly $2,698 per ETH, translating to an aggregate purchase price of $46.84 million.
Bitmine’s portfolio now accounts for nearly 4.92% of Ethereum’s 122.09 million token supply, edging closer to its target of securing 5% of all ETH in circulation under its “Alchemy of 5%” initiative. At this rate, it’s already more than 98% of the way to reaching its goal.
The amount stacks with Bitmine’s 213 Bitcoin (BTC) holdings, $180 million stake in Beast Industries, $115 million stake in Eightco Holdings (ORBS), and $672 million in total cash and marketable securities. To optimize its Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) strategy, the company has staked around 84.44% of its Ether holdings across its proprietary MAVAN (Made in America Validator Network) and partners to generate approximately $358 million annually in passive revenue.
Companies are Underweight in Crypto
Bitmine Chair Thomas “Tom” Lee considers the new milestone a “tremendous achievement” in just 15 months. He remains optimistic about Ethereum amid signs of its transition to the early stage of a bull market.
Lee highlighted that Ethereum continues to show strong potential for new all-time highs, having outperformed by 6,728 basis points for the calendar quarter to date. However, he believes institutions are “still underweight crypto.” This means they hold a lower percentage of digital assets in their portfolios than a target benchmark recommends.
The Bitmine chair predicts that these institutions will eventually increase their crypto exposure in the final months of 2026, as it takes center stage in the acceleration of real-world asset (RWA) tokenization and agentic AI.
Ethereum’s Evolution From Blockchain to a Cryptographic World Computer
Lee’s positive outlook on Ethereum aligns with the new vision of the chain’s founder, Vitalik Buterin. Over the weekend, the father of Ether said the fork starting with the Hegota upgrade is set to transform Ethereum into more than a blockchain.
Buterin emphasized that Ethereum is turning into a “hybrid architecture that combines blockchain and modern cryptography.” He pointed out that the evolution will enable “much more powerful properties” for the network, including better scalability, privacy, and verification through zk-SNARKs (Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge), and more.
