Bitmine to Stop Buying Ether After Reaching 5% of Circulating Supply

Ether (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency, may soon lose a reliable source of demand. Ethereum-focused digital-asset treasury firm Bitmine (BMNR) plans to halt additional ETH purchases once its holdings reach 5% of the token's circulating supply, according to chairman Tom Lee. Speaking Wednesday at TOKEN2049 in Singapore, Lee said the company is close to that cap and needs roughly another 100,000 ETH to hit the 5% threshold. "Now we're going to stop," he said. Bitmine is already near the mark. In an update released Monday, the firm said it bought another $41 million of ETH last week, lifting total holdings to 6,016,414 ETH—about 4.9% of the 122.1 million tokens in circulation. With ETH trading around $2,580 on Wednesday, the position is worth roughly $15.5 billion. Lee noted the accumulation has happened faster than expected. "We thought this would take five years," he said. "It took us a little over a year. More importantly, we did this all in the middle of a bear market." At last week's buying pace, reaching the remaining 100,000 ETH would take about six to seven weeks if purchases continue at a similar rate. Bitmine reported $643 million in cash and marketable securities available for further ETH acquisitions—more than double what it would need to reach the 5% target at current prices. The potential end of Bitmine's buying is notable given its steady accumulation. The firm says it has purchased ETH every week since launching its ether treasury strategy in June 2025. A significant portion of those buys occurred during last year's crypto bull market at higher prices, leaving the company with sizeable paper losses. Data compiled by DropsTab puts Bitmine's unrealized losses on its ETH position at $4.5 billion. ETH was already under pressure Wednesday amid broader weakness in crypto markets. The token fell 5% over the past 24 hours to its lowest level since Sept. 20, declining nearly twice as much as bitcoin (BTC), which traded around $83,532.46.