What happened
Bitmine Immersion Technologies disclosed Monday that it bought 126,971 ETH for roughly $214 million during last week's selloff, per a company statement reported by NewsBTC. It's the firm's largest purchase of 2026 and pushes total ether holdings to 5,543,872 ETH, or 4. 59% of circulating supply.
Chairman Tom Lee, who runs the treasury strategy, said the firm 'increased our buying as we believe this pullback in ETH prices does not reflect the strengthening of Ethereum fundamentals. ' Total balance sheet value sits at $9. 6 billion at current prices, comprising the ETH stack, 204 BTC, a $180 million stake in Beast Industries and $88 million in Eightco Holdings under what Bitmine calls its 'Moonshots' initiative, plus $247 million in cash.
The buy lands as ether traded down to $1,505 on Sunday, a one-year low, before recovering to $1,687 by Monday.
Why it matters
Bitmine is the largest publicly disclosed ether treasury, and the size of this buy matters more than the price tag. At 4. 59% of supply, the firm is closing in on its stated 5% target.
A single corporate vehicle absorbing that share of float is a structural bid the market hasn't had to price before. Lee's framing also matters. He called the broader selloff a 'superficial take, driven more by short-term panic than by real weakness,' and pointed to the recent Zcash Orchard incident as evidence that AI-driven attacks on weaker rails actually strengthen the case for hardened chains like Ethereum.
That's the editorial pitch behind the buy: not a trade, a thesis. The downside: Bitmine's average cost on the new tranche is roughly $1,685 per ETH, almost exactly where price sits now. If $1,500 cracks, the firm is underwater on its biggest 2026 add and the next bid layer thins out fast.