BitMine Buys $73M of ETH, Lifts Holdings to 4.8% of Circulating Supply

BitMine Immersion Technologies (NYSE: BMNR) has stepped into a role many investors have been watching for since MicroStrategy's bitcoin playbook: a publicly listed corporate treasury built around Ethereum. In a position update released Monday, the Fundstrat-led company, chaired by Tom Lee, said it bought 42,197 ETH over the past week, a purchase it valued at roughly $73 million. The addition brings BitMine's total ETH holdings to 5,742,237 ETH, or about 4.8% of Ethereum's circulating supply, moving it close to the company's stated 5% target. BitMine said its crypto assets and other holdings total approximately $11.1 billion, underscoring that the balance sheet extends beyond ETH. The company values its ETH position at $1,800 per coin and also reports holdings of 206 BTC, $180 million in Beast Industries equity, $71 million in Eightco Holdings (NASDAQ: ORBS) equity, and $527 million in cash and marketable securities. Staking activity was unchanged. BitMine reported total staked ETH of 4,879,157, flat versus the prior week. The company's tracked data indicates that while overall ETH balances rose, no additional ETH was added to staking during the week, suggesting the new purchases are being held rather than immediately deployed for yield. The firm continues to frame its strategy around the 5% threshold, describing "controlling 5% of the total ETH supply" as a key benchmark. As it nears that line, the market is again weighing what it means for a public company to hold close to 5% of ETH's circulating supply, and whether the potential influence on the network, secondary markets, and price dynamics goes beyond a conventional "treasury allocation." BMNR shares trade on the NYSE. Lee has previously called crypto assets a "wartime store of value" and has defended the company's funding model in public comments. With BitMine's ETH position approaching 5%, institutional accumulation of ETH is increasingly being treated as a repeatable corporate-treasury strategy rather than a one-off experiment.