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Bitmine Immersion Technologies has accelerated the pace of its Ether purchases in recent weeks, chairman Tom Lee said Monday, following the company’s over-the-counter purchase of 5,000 ETH directly from the Ethereum Foundation.
Lee said Bitmine added 60,999 Ether (ETH) over the past week, up from a recent weekly average of about 45,000 to 50,000 ETH.
The purchases bring the publicly traded company’s Ethereum treasury to 4.596 million ETH, giving Bitmine control of about 3.81% of the token’s total supply. The company said its combined crypto holdings, cash and other investments total about $11.5 billion.
Bitmine said that 3,040,515 ETH, about 66% of its holdings, are currently staked, valued at roughly $6.6 billion at an Ether price of $2,185.
The company estimates its staking operations generate about $180 million in annualized revenue. It plans to expand staking through its Made in America Validator Network (MAVAN), expected to launch in the coming months.
Bitmine said the 5,000 ETH purchase from the Ethereum Foundation was structured to allow the foundation to fund its operations without selling Ether on the open market.
Shares of Bitmine (BMNR) closed Monday trading up almost 14% to $23.39, according to Yahoo Finance data.
Today’s announcement from the Ethereum treasury company coincided with a disclosure by Strategy, the world’s largest Bitcoin treasury company, that it purchased 22,337 BTC for $1.57 billion, bringing its total holdings to more than 760,000 Bitcoin.
Related: Three Ethereum indicators hint that $2.8K is the next ETH price target
Corporate treasuries control over 5% of Ether supply
Public companies holding Ether have largely slowed accumulation over the past month, even as Bitmine continues to rapidly expand its position.
Data from CoinGecko shows that among the 20 largest corporate Ether treasuries, only four companies increased their holdings over the last 30 days. Bitmine added 269,824 ETH during that period, far outpacing SharpLink, which added 3,859 ETH, and Eightco, which added 11,068 ETH.
Eightco also raised $125 million last week to expand investments in blockchain and artificial intelligence. Bitmine led the round with a $75 million investment, while ARK Invest and Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, each invested $25 million. As part of the deal, Bitmine chairman Lee joined Eightco’s board.
Across the market, 30 public entities across seven countries collectively hold about 6.6 million ETH valued at around $15.4 billion, representing about 5.47% of Ether’s total supply, according to CoinGecko.
At the time of writing, Ether was trading at around $2,342, up nearly 11% over the past 24 hours, a year-to-date decline at around 21%. The cryptocurrency currently has a market capitalization of about $282 billion, with around 120.7 million ETH in circulation.
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