Bitmine Buys $81M More Ethereum, Nears 5% of All ETH

A company called Bitmine just spent another $81 million buying Ethereum, and it's getting very close to owning a huge chunk of all the Ethereum that exists.

Bitmine (a company that collects and holds cryptocurrency as its main business) bought 32,447 more ETH (Ethereum, the second-biggest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin) last week. That pushes its total to about 5.85 million ETH — worth roughly $15 billion.

Here are the key numbers:

• Bitmine now holds 5,847,611 ETH (about 4.8% of all Ethereum)
• Its goal is to own 5% of the total supply — it's just ~187,000 ETH short
• Ethereum jumped 31.5% in the past week, beating Bitcoin's 24% rise
• ETH currently trades just under $2,500

Why does this matter? When a big company keeps buying and holding an asset, it takes those coins off the market (fewer available to trade), which can help push prices up. This is called an "accumulation" strategy.

Bitmine also stakes most of its coins. Staking means locking up crypto to help run the network, and in return you earn rewards — a bit like earning interest in a savings account. Bitmine has staked 87% of its ETH and expects $330 million per year in staking income.

Importantly, owning 5% would NOT give Bitmine control over Ethereum. It couldn't change the rules or block transactions — it would just be a very large holder.

Bitmine's chairman Tom Lee believes this big weekly jump could signal the start of an even bigger price rise, pointing to friendlier crypto rules from the U.S. government and improving market conditions.

The bottom line: Bitmine is betting big on Ethereum. If ETH keeps climbing, the company (and its investors) profit nicely. But if prices fall, they're heavily exposed to losses, since so much of their money is tied up in a single volatile asset.

This is an AI-generated summary. Read the original article at: https://decrypt.co/376336/bitmine-81m-more-ethereum-eth-tops-bitcoin