- Bitmine bought 45,759 ETH for $90M, lifting holdings to 4.37M ETH
- Tom Lee says crypto sentiment is at “rock bottom” despite major tailwinds
- Bitmine now stakes 69% of its ETH, generating about $176M in annual rewards
Bitmine Immersion Technologies expanded its Ethereum treasury with a fresh $90 million ETH purchase last week, even as Chairman Tom Lee described investor sentiment toward crypto as essentially rock bottom. The company acquired 45,759 ETH over the past week, pushing total holdings to 4,371,497 ETH. At a reference price near $1,998 per ETH, Bitmine’s Ethereum position is valued around $8.7 billion, representing roughly 3.62% of total ETH supply.
Lee framed the buying as conviction rather than momentum chasing, which is a key distinction in this part of the cycle. When markets are euphoric, everyone claims they’re long-term holders. When markets feel dead, the real long-duration buyers show themselves, and Bitmine is clearly trying to position itself as one of them.
Tom Lee Says 2026 Could Be Ethereum’s Defining Crypto Moment
According to Lee, 2026 could end up being a defining year for Ethereum, not because of hype, but because of actual demand coming from outside the crypto bubble. He pointed to tokenization and privacy adoption on Wall Street as two major forces that could accelerate ETH’s relevance. That’s a big claim, but it’s not random, because RWAs and institutional rails are already moving on-chain in a measurable way.
He also highlighted a newer narrative that’s starting to get louder: AI agents using Ethereum for payments and verification. It’s still early, and some of it is definitely speculative, but the direction makes sense. If autonomous agents need neutral settlement and programmable identity standards, Ethereum is one of the few networks that fits the role without forcing a centralized gatekeeper.
Market Psychology Is Depressed, Even Without a Major Crypto Collapse
What’s interesting is Lee’s read on market psychology. He compared today’s mood to the lows of November 2022 and even the 2018 crypto winter, which is a pretty extreme comparison. But he also made an important point: unlike prior cycles, this weakness seems less about industry blowups and more about price shock, deleveraging, and people simply giving up after getting chopped up.
That matters because it changes what a recovery could look like. If the market isn’t healing from a giant fraud event, but instead from exhaustion and leverage unwind, the rebound can arrive in a more quiet, steady way. Not instantly, not dramatically, but in a way that catches most people off guard.
Bitmine’s Staking Strategy Turns ETH Into a Yielding Treasury Asset
Bitmine isn’t just holding ETH, it’s actively staking it at scale. The company now stakes 3,040,483 ETH, which is about 69% of its total holdings, and it reports annualized staking revenues of roughly $176 million. At full scale, Bitmine estimates staking rewards could reach $252 million annually, which is not a small number, even by institutional standards.
This is where Ethereum treasuries start to look different from Bitcoin treasuries. With ETH, you’re not only betting on price appreciation, you’re also building a yield-generating balance sheet asset. That yield changes how treasuries behave, how they fund operations, and how they justify continued accumulation even when spot price feels ugly.
