Ethereum (ETH) treasury firm Bitmine purchased 71,179 ETH worth roughly $146 million over the past week, pushing its total holdings to 4,732,082 ETH — equivalent to 3.92% of the cryptocurrency's circulating supply, as the company maintains its aggressive accumulation strategy amid what its chairman calls the final phase of a "mini-crypto winter."
Bitmine's ETH Accumulation
The purchase, disclosed in a press release, exceeded Bitmine's recent weekly buying average.
Chairman Thomas "Tom" Lee said the firm has kept up an accelerated pace of ETH purchases over the past four weeks. "Bitmine has maintained the increased pace of ETH buys in each of the past four weeks, as our base case is ETH is in the final stages of the 'mini-crypto winter,'" Lee said.
Bitmine pivoted from Bitcoin (BTC) mining to an Ethereum treasury model in mid-2025, following a playbook similar to Michael Saylor's Strategy. Its reserves now stand at 4,732,082 ETH. The firm has set a target of 5% of ETH's circulating supply and sits at roughly 78% of that goal after eight months.
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Lee on Crypto's War-Time Performance
Lee noted that crypto has held up well despite five weeks of uncertainty tied to the war situation in Iran. ETH has outperformed equities by 1,160 basis points during the period, he said, while Gold has underperformed by more than 750 basis points.
"Crypto is demonstrating itself to be a good 'war time' store of value," Lee said.
Bitmine's Staking Strategy
Bitmine has also directed a significant portion of its reserves toward staking. The company currently has 3,142,643 ETH staked, representing 66% of its total holdings. "Bitmine has staked more ETH than other entities in the world," Lee said.
The firm is not alone in expanding its staking activity.
Arkham Intelligence noted in an X post that the Ethereum Foundation recently transferred $46.2 million in ETH to the staking deposit contract. "This is more ETH than they have EVER staked before," Arkham said.
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