Bitmine Buys More Ethereum, Now Owns Nearly 5% of All ETH
Tom Lee's Bitmine adds 10,399 ETH and buys back its own shares, holding $11.3 billion in crypto and cash.
A company called Bitmine just added even more Ethereum (the world's second-biggest cryptocurrency, after Bitcoin) to its already massive collection — and it's now closing in on owning 5% of all the Ethereum that exists.
What Bitmine did this week:
- Bought 10,399 more ETH (worth about $19.5 million)
- Now holds 5.8 million ETH, worth around $10.9 billion
- Total holdings (crypto, cash, and investments) reach $11.3 billion
- That ETH stash equals about 4.8% of all Ethereum in circulation — 96% of the way to its 5% goal
Why it matters: Many public companies used to stockpile Bitcoin. Now, several are switching to Ethereum instead. One reason is staking — locking up ETH to help run the network and earn rewards in return, similar to earning interest in a savings account. Bitmine has staked about 4.9 million ETH (85% of its holdings) and expects roughly $247 million per year in staking income (though that number could change).
The stock buyback: Bitmine also repurchased 4.5 million of its own shares last week. A "buyback" is when a company buys its own stock back from the market — often done when leaders think the shares are cheap. Chairman Tom Lee said Bitmine's shares looked "attractively valued," and this brings total buybacks to over 16 million shares under a $4 billion program.
A word of caution: Ethereum's price is around $1,880, up about 6% in the past month. But traders on a prediction market called Myriad think there's a 75% chance ETH drops to $1,500 before it reaches $3,000 — meaning many expect the price to fall in the near term.
In short, Bitmine is doubling down on Ethereum and its own stock, betting big on the future of digital assets.
This is an AI-generated summary. Read the original article at: https://decrypt.co/374836/tom-lee-bitmine-buys-more-ethereum-adds-stock-buyback