The largest Ethereum-centric treasury firm kept buying, while its chairman argued ETH’s strong third quarter could push institutions to increase crypto exposure.
- Bitmine purchased 27,562 ETH last week, worth about $75.2 million at Monday’s price of $2,727, continuing its accumulation streak.
- Chairman Tom Lee said said institutional investors remain “underweighted” crypto and expects them to increase exposure during the final three months of 2026.
The purchase was worth about $75.2 million at Monday’s ether price of $2,727, lifting Bitmine’s holdings to 5,983,940 ETH. That’s about 4.9% of the token’s 122.1 million supply, keeping the company close to its goal of owning 5%.
The firm has been buying at a similar pace in recent weeks and, at that rate, could reach its accumulation goal in the next couple of months. The company said it bought ether every week since June 2025, when it pivoted to a crypto treasury strategy.
Bitmine has staked about 5 million ETH, roughly 85% of its holdings, and projected a staking revenue of roughly $357 million annually at current yields.
Bitmine shares were 5.8% higher pre-market, extending Friday’s 8% rally as ETH surged overnight to a fresh high since late January.
Tom Lee sees year-end catch-up for crypto
Tom Lee, meanwhile, said institutional investors may be playing catch-up after favoring artificial intelligence-linked stocks earlier in the year.
Since the end of June, ETH has risen 76%, far more than the S&P 500’s modest 2% gain, outperforming the stock index. Lee said that kind of gap could draw more attention from fund managers who have stayed light on crypto this year.
“Given institutions have underweighted crypto in 2026, partially due to the outperformance of AI stocks in early 2026, we expect institutions to substantially increase their exposure in the final three months of 2026,” Lee said.
He also pointed to tokenization and the growing use of blockchain in AI as longer-term reasons institutions may increase their exposure.
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