Just over the past week alone, BitMine — the world’s largest Ethereum treasury company — purchased nearly 70,000 ETH with a total value of 195 million USD. As a result, the company of the well-known Ethereum “permabull” Tom Lee now holds 3.62 million ETH, which is roughly 3% of the total circulating Ethereum supply.
However, similar to (Micro-)Strategy — the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin — BitMine’s stock has collapsed sharply in recent months. The BMNR stock is currently trading at $30.5, which is almost 80% below its all-time high recorded in July.
At the same time, the Ethereum price itself has declined by only 12% over the same period, making BitMine’s stock collapse look even more dramatic. At the time of writing, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization is trading around $2,890, up approximately 2.3% over the past 24 hours.
As recently as last week, Lee stated that the main reason for the crypto market’s weakness was the drop in liquidity following the flash crash on October 10. According to him, the peak of the current cycle may now be shifted to 2026 or even later.
The ETH purchase came shortly after BitMine released its latest financial results. For the fiscal year ending August 31, the company reported a net profit of 328 million USD and announced plans to start paying dividends to shareholders.
In this way, in addition to its Ethereum-focused strategy, BitMine aims to generate more traditional returns for investors. Previously, the company also approved a share buyback program, which sets it apart from many other crypto treasury companies.
Tom Lee is known for his extremely bullish forecasts for both Bitcoin and Ethereum. Just two weeks ago, he stated that “a price range between $9,000 and $12,000 by January is realistic.” However, at the current moment, such a tripling or even quadrupling of the ETH price appears highly unlikely.