Bitmine Adds 25,000 ETH as Holdings Near 5% of Supply; CME Launches Index Futures

Ethereum News

A notable shift unfolded in the Ether futures market this week: derivatives open-interest data shows ETH positions on Binance climbing to roughly 3.7 million ETH, an all-time high. That figure means the exchange now carries more than 44% of global Ethereum (ETH) futures open interest. Even with Ether down about 44% across 2026, buyers leaned harder into market orders — the weekly taker buy-to-sell ratio edged up from 0.95 to 1.0. Over the same stretch, perpetual futures volume reached roughly 5.57 million ETH while spot volume hovered near 290,000 ETH. With the perp-to-spot imbalance gauge approaching 0.90, leveraged exposure is now clearly outrunning underlying spot demand.

On the corporate side, Bitmine kept its aggressive accumulation strategy in motion. The company, chaired by Tom Lee, bought about 25,000 ETH worth roughly $41 million on Wednesday; on-chain data shows the funds moved from a hot wallet tied to custody provider BitGo. That brings Bitmine’s purchases over the past three days to 125,000 ETH, or about $205 million. The firm’s total reserves have risen to 5,543,872 ETH, equal to 4.59% of the roughly 120.7 million ETH in circulating supply. That puts Bitmine roughly 92% of the way toward its target of holding 5% of total supply. According to the data, the position currently sits on about $9.9 billion in unrealized losses.

Even so, Lee signaled the pace of buying could ease. Speaking at a June 11 financial-planning event, he suggested Bitmine may not need to push past its 5% target given the tightening Ethereum supply. In Lee’s view, today’s financial system runs on layers of legacy technology, while Ethereum and Bitcoin offer a cheaper rail for recording and transferring value — which is why he frames blockchain investment as buying a stake in the core infrastructure of the digital economy. On the funding front, the company filed to issue Series A preferred shares carrying a 9.5% annual dividend, an instrument slated to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker BMNP. The disclosure was read as a cue for a more cautious pause in ETH accumulation.

On the development side, a long-awaited privacy step reached a pivotal stage. Proposal EIP-8182 was formally moved to “Proposed for Inclusion” status for Hegotá, Ethereum’s next major upgrade. The proposal would let users transfer ETH and ERC-20 tokens at the protocol level through a shielded pool. Notably, it requires no new opcode, transaction type, or precompile; it would run through a system contract activated during the hard fork. Developers point out that transfers on the blockchain are fully transparent today, leaving a privacy gap for payroll and corporate treasury operations. The proposal aims to close that gap by establishing a shared privacy layer.

On the narrative front, Michael Saylor stirred the debate. The Strategy founder argued at a panel that confidence in Ethereum has dropped sharply, pointing to competition from Solana, BNB Chain, Sui, Hyperliquid, and a growing roster of Layer 2 networks. In Saylor’s telling, many altcoins shed their “monetary premium” once hype cycles faded, and usage value — not narrative — will decide which ecosystems endure. Market observers counter that the take doesn’t square with all the evidence: Saylor saw spot ETF approvals as a long shot back in 2024, yet Ethereum ETFs later launched, pulled in billions of dollars, and took their place among institutional products. The network still hosts a sizable share of decentralized-finance liquidity.

On-chain indicators, however, point to a different balance. Data shows the amount of Ethereum held on exchanges falling to 14.5 million ETH, the lowest level on record, with the slide accelerating after July 2025. Exchange reserves that hovered near 20 million ETH through 2024 thinned out as corporate treasury strategies spread and large amounts of ETH were staked and pulled off exchanges. Ether closed May with an 11.07% loss, and spot ETFs saw $540.88 million in net outflows. Separately, analyst Ali Martinez noted that the Delta Price metric — which has flagged past bottoms — sits near $700, suggesting ETH could revisit that zone if history rhymes.

COINOTAG’s proprietary 42-indicator composite support/resistance engine (as of 21:14 UTC) rates the $1,708.88 resistance as the strongest threshold at 75/100, a score drawn from the R1 pivot, the 0.214 Fibonacci level, and the prior session’s high. Above that, $1,777 resistance scores 72/100, backed by Ichimoku Senkou A and R3. To the downside, $1,615 support reads 66/100 (ATR Lower, HVN), while the more critical $1,505 level stands out at 70/100 on Donchian Lower and swing-low support. With RSI at 31.60 and a downtrend in place, MACD is flashing a bearish signal. In derivatives, funding sits at 0.0029, open interest at $6.43 billion, and the long/short ratio at 2.33 (70% long), pointing to crowded one-sided positioning; the Fear & Greed Index reads 12 (Extreme Fear). The bullish case requires a close above $1,709, while a drop below $1,505 would invalidate it.