Bitmine buys 71,672 ETH in a week, now aims for 5% of total supply

Ethereum crypto is now attracting treasury strategies on an unprecedented scale. In one week, Bitmine Immersion Technologies purchased an additional 71,672 ETH, bringing its reserves to over 5.2 million ETH, or 4.37% of the total circulating supply. Behind this massive accumulation, Tom Lee is not only banking on the market's rise. The manager wants to transform Bitmine into an institutional giant in Ethereum staking, at a time when Wall Street is accelerating its rapprochement with the crypto industry.

Bitmine accelerates its hold on Ethereum supply

Bitmine Immersion Technologies bought 71,672 ETH in one week, taking advantage of the price's temporary drop below $2,200, when it was thought that the firm could slow down its acquisitions. This new acquisition now brings the group's reserves to 5,278,462 ETH, or approximately $11.5 billion at the current price.

Thus, this quantity already represents 4.37% of the total Ethereum supply estimated at 120.7 million ETH. Tom Lee, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bitmine, asserts that the company could achieve its major objective as early as next year: “Bitmine should reach the symbolic threshold of 5% of the total Ethereum supply during the year 2026”.

Here are some key figures:

• 71,672 ETH purchased in one week;
• 5,278,462 ETH held in total;
• $11.5 billion exposure to Ethereum;
• 4.37% of the total ETH supply already controlled;
• The stated objective is to reach 5% of the supply by December;
• Bitmine indicates that it is already 87% of this objective.

The company now claims the status of the largest Ethereum treasury in the world, ahead of all institutional players exposed to the asset. Listed on the NYSE under the ticker BMNR, Bitmine also has a five-day average daily volume of $857 million, a sign of growing interest from traditional markets in this Ethereum-centric strategy.

Institutional staking becomes the real engine of the strategy

A large portion of the ETH held by Bitmine does not remain inactive. Of the 5.28 million ETH controlled by the company, 4,712,917 ETH is currently staked, worth close to $10.3 billion. This business already generates an estimated annualized return of $289 million, based on a weekly annualized rate of 2.80%.

Tom Lee even believes that revenues could increase further with the expansion of the company's network of validators: “at full scale, when Bitmine ETH is fully staked via MAVAN and its staking partners, estimated annual staking revenue could reach $324 million”.

This strategy is largely based on MAVAN, the “Made in America Validator Network”presented as a future institutional staking infrastructure intended for asset managers and crypto custodians. Tom Lee also links this rise in power of Ethereum to the evolution of the American regulatory framework.

According to him, the CLARITY Act could pave the way for a new generation of financial products backed by public blockchains. “The CLARITY Act provides the regulatory clarity needed for the crypto industry and Wall Street to build the next generation of financial products and infrastructure”, assertshe said in the publication.

Bitmine's initiative above all illustrates a more profound transformation of the crypto market. Ethereum is no longer just seen as infrastructure for decentralized applications or speculative memecoins. Large financial players are now starting to consider ETH as a strategic asset capable of generating returns on a large scale through staking. This gradual concentration of supply in the hands of listed companies could also reignite debates around the centralization of the network, while Wall Street accelerates its entry into the Ethereum ecosystem.