Tom Lee says ‘crypto spring’ started as Bitmine buys $238 million in ether

Bitmine (BMNR), the largest Ethereum treasury firm, bought 101,745 ether (ETH) last week as Chairman Thomas Lee said a new “crypto spring” is underway, even as market sentiment remains subdued.

The purchase lifted the firm’s holdings to over 5.18 million ETH, roughly 4.29% of the token’s outstanding supply, according to a Monday update.

Bitmine’s total crypto and cash holdings stand at $13.1 billion. In addition to its ETH position, the firm holds 200 bitcoin BTC$79,707.35, $700 million in cash and equity stakes including investments in Beast Industries and Eightco Holdings.

The latest buy, worth roughly $238 million at current ETH prices, has extended a run of elevated weekly purchases as the firm doubles down accumulating ETH at scale.

Crypto spring builds as CLARITY Act moves forward

That bet is anchored by the firm’s view that crypto markets are climbing out from the past months’ “mini-winter,” as Lee pointed to improving market conditions and positive signs of U.S digital asset regulation, known as the CLARITY Act, moving forward.

“The U.S. Senate released the CLARITY Act compromise text, and while it bans stablecoin yield on reserves, activity-based ‘rewards’ can be offered, in an attempt to balance the needs to protect existing depository institutions (aka traditional banks),” he said in a statement. “This compromise is largely acceptable to us, and we hope to see this bill passed in 2026.” Polymarket’s prediction market traders assigned more than a 60% chance of passage this year, he added.

“Crypto Spring, in our view, has commenced and like past cycles, investor sentiment and conviction are muted and bearish even as crypto prices strengthen,” Lee said.

Lee said Ethereum is benefiting from two long-term trends: the shift of financial assets onto blockchain rails known as tokenization and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) tools that, in his view, will seek neutral, public networks for payments and verification.

He added that ETH is increasingly viewed as both a store of value and a medium of exchange, citing its outperformance against equities since the start of the Iran conflict.

BitMine has also expanded its staking operations, pledging over 4.36 million ETH — more than 84% of its holdings — to generate yield, earning about $297 million in annualized revenue. Its MAVAN staking platform is designed to support both internal operations and outside institutional demand. Lee will be speaking at CoinDesk’s Consensus Miami this week.