Bitmine's Ethereum (ETH) Stash Hits 6.04 Million Tokens, 4.9% of Supply

Update 15:13 UTC: The picture around Bitmine's lead over rivals firmed up in the same Tuesday wrap of treasury moves: Strategy's count of its bitcoin purchases now puts its total at 848,517 BTC, a newer reading than the roughly 848,250 BTC cited in the prior week's figures, after the company again bought coins last…

Bitmine Closes In on 5% of Supply

Bitmine Immersion Technologies bought another 12,535 Ethereum (ETH) over the past week, lifting its holdings to 6,041,481 tokens, the company disclosed in a Monday announcement. At its own reference price of $2,365, that stash is worth about $14.3 billion and equals 4.9% of Ethereum's 122.1 million circulating supply, leaving the firm, whose NYSE shares trade under the ticker BMNR, 99% of the way to the 5% ownership goal it calls the “Alchemy of 5%.” Tom Lee, the company's chairman, has said accumulation winds down once that threshold is crossed. The buying streak has not skipped a week since the Ethereum treasury strategy began on June 30, 2025, a persistence Lee describes as unmatched among listed companies. The Ethereum price has not rewarded it: the coin trades near $2,393, up 0.9% in 24 hours but down roughly 4.8% over seven days after an October slide from the 2,700 to 2,800 area, and market data on CoinGecko confirms the weekly decline. Bitmine sits underwater on much of the stack it accumulated last year at higher prices, yet it remains the largest holder among public companies and the lead item in this week's Ethereum news.

The selling pressure behind Bitmine's accumulation is showing up in fund flows too. Derivatives markets added to the picture: about $87 million in Ethereum (ETH) futures positions were liquidated over the past 24 hours, with shorts accounting for more than $71 million of that total. Later on Thursday, by 15:50 UTC, ether had still failed to reclaim its key short-term moving averages, trading under the 50-day EMA near $2,483 and the 20-day EMA at $2,504, and analysts flagged the $2,500 recovery as the deciding variable for any near-term trend change.

The picture around Bitmine's lead over rivals firmed up in the same Tuesday wrap of treasury moves: Strategy's count of its bitcoin purchases now puts its total at 848,517 BTC, a newer reading than the roughly 848,250 BTC cited in the prior week's figures, after the company again bought coins last week through fresh purchases and preferred-stock buybacks. The updated tally leaves Bitmine, whose 6,041,481 ETH make it the largest Ethereum treasury among public companies, still the second-largest crypto treasury overall behind Strategy. The wrap also noted that the Japanese listed company Metaplanet continues to hold its stash, while Bitmine's 12,535 Ethereum (ETH) weekly purchase was confirmed as keeping its streak of buying intact.

Staking Projects $309 Million a Year

Most of the stack is already producing yield. The company reported 5,067,309 ETH in staking as of October 18, about 83.9% of holdings and worth close to $12 billion at the $2,365 reference price. On a seven-day annualized yield of 2.58%, that position is projected to earn roughly $309 million a year, with a further estimate of $369 million if the full balance were staked through MAVAN, the Made in America Validator Network launched this year for institutions and custodians. The staked balance was unchanged from the prior weekly report, so the newest purchase had not yet entered staking by the October 18 cutoff. The buy itself followed an October 12 update that reported 6,028,946 ETH, with the difference between the two balances matching the week's purchase exactly. Total holdings reached $15.1 billion as of October 18, adding 215 Bitcoin, $582 million in cash and marketable securities, a $180 million stake in Beast Industries and a $74 million position in Eightco Holdings. The update, circulated in a post detailing the 12,535 ETH purchase, also quantifies the final gap: against the fixed 122.1 million denominator used in the statement, Bitmine needs 6,105,000 tokens for exactly 5%, leaving it 63,519 short, about five weeks of buying at the current pace.

The total value of Bitmine's holdings has now slipped for a second consecutive week even as the token count grows. The weekly updates showed combined crypto, cash, marketable securities and "moonshot" stakes of $17.4 billion on October 5 and $16.2 billion on October 12, before the latest release put the figure at $15.1 billion as of 3 p.m. ET on October 18. The drop reflects a lower mark: this week's release valued ether at $2,365, a Coinbase price, against $2,544 in the prior week's update. The pace of accumulation itself held steady, with the 12,535 ETH purchase almost matching the 12,532 ETH bought the week before, which followed buys of 15,112 ETH and 17,362 ETH in the two weeks prior.

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Post detailing the 12,535 ETH purchase.

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The technical backdrop has shifted from the last reading: spot sits at $2,496.34, up 4.31% over 24 hours, yet the trend flag still prints downtrend. Our composite level scoring keeps the strongest support at $2,414.19, a perfect 100/100 where the pivot point, the Fibonacci 0.382 retracement, the value area high and the Ichimoku Tenkan converge, while the nearest resistance at $2,469.80 scores 61 and sits just above price, with the $2,533.77 level at 90 behind it. Momentum is mixed rather than weak: the RSI reads 45.37 and the MACD signal stays bearish. Positioning looks little changed, with open interest near $10.45 billion and a perp funding rate of 0.0071%, though the long/short account ratio of 1.91 still leans long. The levels are tracked in our Ethereum technical analysis page; a close above $2,533.77 would test the stronger ceiling at $2,593.91, while losing $2,414.19 is what would break the structure (as of 13:14 UTC).

Lee Points to a Global Risk-Off Shift

Lee traced the weakness well beyond crypto. In the Monday statement he tied the pullback to a broad contraction in risk appetite, citing anxiety over AI funding and model safety, escalating US-Iran tensions, midterm-election nerves and rising global bond yields. He pointed to selloffs in AI and semiconductor stocks in South Korea and Taiwan, markets with heavy retail crypto participation, where investors cutting exposure sent selling pressure into digital assets. Where fundamentals hold firm, he argued, such dips have historically marked attractive entries, and an October 7 presentation he fronted argued this cycle's bull market could be the largest yet. The company's standing gives the argument weight: Bitmine ranks as the world's largest Ethereum treasury and the second-largest crypto treasury overall, behind only Strategy's roughly 848,250 BTC, which Strategy itself expanded by $22 million last week through fresh purchases and preferred-stock buybacks. Bitmine joined the Russell 1000 index on June 26, 2026, and its backers include Cathie Wood's ARK, Founders Fund, Pantera, Kraken and Galaxy Digital. It ends the week where it began, atop the Ethereum treasury field with 15 months of unbroken weekly buying behind it.