There's a consistency to Bitmine's operation that I find worth paying attention to, even in weeks when the broader market is confused about direction. Monday's disclosure confirmed another week of Ethereum accumulation, another step closer to a target the company set months ago, and a reaffirmation from Chairman Tom Lee that his long-term thesis hasn't moved.
Bitmine Immersion Technologies purchased 52,203 ETH last week for approximately $92 million, based on Ethereum's current price near $1,760. That brings total holdings to 5.67 million ETH, worth roughly $10 billion, representing 4.7% of Ethereum's entire circulating supply. The company's cash and marketable securities stood at $601 million alongside that ETH position.
The pace is slowing. The previous two weekly purchases were larger. But the direction has not changed.
94% of the Way There
Bitmine disclosed it is now 94% of the way toward its stated goal of owning 5% of Ethereum's total supply. That milestone, which would put the company at approximately 6 million ETH, is expected to be reached later this year if the current weekly buying pace continues.
The week-over-week slowdown makes practical sense. As Bitmine gets closer to the target, there's less urgency to front-run the remaining gap. The company isn't trying to time a perfect entry, it's executing a structured accumulation strategy, and the math gets simpler as the finish line comes closer.
The Staking Revenue Argument Still Holds
What separates Bitmine's approach from Strategy's preferred equity model, and what I've found genuinely more structurally sound, is the staking revenue backing its dividend obligations.
Bitmine currently has 4.72 million ETH actively staked through its MAVAN platform, more than 83% of total holdings. The company projects annualized staking revenue of around $223 million, with potential rewards reaching $268 million annually. That cash flow more than covers the obligations created by the $274 million preferred share raise completed earlier this month, which pays 9.5% annual dividends distributed weekly.
The company announced another round of scheduled dividend payments extending through August at $0.1847 per share, steady, predictable, and backed by real yield rather than asset price assumptions.
Tom Lee Still Believes in Crypto Spring
Lee's market framing deserves honest scrutiny. At Consensus Miami last month, he said the bear market would be over if Bitcoin closed May above $76,000. Bitcoin finished May below $74,000 and then dropped below $60,000 in early June, a significant miss on that specific call.
Lee addressed this directly on Monday. The missed target has not changed his broader outlook. He used the phrase crypto spring to describe where he believes the market is right now, the early stages of recovery from the downturn that began with the October 2025 liquidation shock.
I'll give him credit for not walking back the framework even after the data missed his threshold. His long-term argument for Ethereum is rooted in tokenization and artificial intelligence driving network adoption over years, not weeks. He's playing a different time horizon than the traders focused on whether Bitcoin holds $64,000 this week.
The Bigger Picture for Bitmine
The company issued its BMNP preferred shares on the New York Stock Exchange earlier this month. Unlike Strategy's STRC, which hit a record low of $82.50 last week amid investor panic, BMNP has its dividend obligations directly backstopped by ETH staking rewards rather than the price performance of a non-yielding asset.
That structural difference is the core reason Bitmine's preferred equity story is holding together better than Strategy's right now. The market is noticing. And as long as Ethereum staking rewards remain at current levels, Bitmine has a genuinely defensible position, regardless of what ETH's price does in the short term.