BitMine nears 5 million ETH milestone, stash valued above $11.5B

BitMine Immersion Technologies, a publicly traded firm positioned as an Ethereum treasury company, made its biggest weekly ETH purchase since December, buying 101,627 ETH for about $235 million, CoinDesk reported. The acquisition lifted BitMine's Ethereum holdings to 4,976,485 ETH, valued at more than $11.5 billion. The company also holds 199 BTC. As of Monday's latest data, BitMine reported roughly $15 million in other assets and $1.12 billion in cash. Chairman Tom Lee said in a statement that while many expect the crypto winter to persist until fall 2026, he believes the downturn is nearing its end. (Disclosure: Lee is one of BitMine's founders.) Ethereum was down about 1.1% over the past 24 hours to around $2,312. The No. 2 cryptocurrency by market capitalization gained 5.4% last week. Lee said easing downside risk tied to the U.S.-Iran war helped push ETH up 41% from its early-February low, adding that he views Ethereum as an optimal "wartime store of value" and the top-performing asset since the conflict began. BitMine last week reported a net loss of $3.8 billion for the three months ended Feb. 28, with 99% of the loss attributed to unrealized declines on its Ethereum holdings. The company said it currently controls more than 4.1% of total ETH supply. For the six months ended Feb. 28, BitMine reported losses exceeding $9 billion as Ethereum fell from its record high of $4,946 set in August. ETH is currently trading about 53% below that peak. Since Monday's open, BitMine's BMNR shares have slipped about 3.3%. Over the past month, the stock is up nearly 3%, trailing ETH's 5.5% gain. BMNR has fallen nearly 59% over the past six months and is down 86% from its 52-week high of $161, last trading at $22.21. Separately, Strategy, the largest Bitcoin treasury company, also made a sizeable purchase last week, adding more than $2.5 billion in Bitcoin in its biggest expansion since 2024.