ETH may lose its biggest buyer as Bitmine mulls slowing down purchases

Miami — Bitmine (BMNR), the largest Ethereum treasury firm, may slow the pace of its ether (ETH) accumulation as the firm is inching closer to reaching its accumulation goal, Chairman Tom Lee said Thursday at Consensus 2026 in Miami.

The company, which holds over 5.1 million ETH worth around $11.9 billion at current prices, originally expected it would take five years to accumulate 5% of the ETH supply, Lee said. Instead, the company held 4.29% as of this week, less than a year after launching its strategy.

“At our current buying pace of 100,000 ETH a week, we’re going to be there [at 5%] in like six weeks,” Lee said during a keynote presentation. “I think we’re deciding perhaps we want to accumulate at a somewhat slower pace.”

The comments mark a shift in tone for Bitmine, which has remained one of the few large digital asset treasuries still actively buying crypto while many rivals paused accumulation during the market downturn. Strategy (MSTR), the largest corporate bitcoin holder and another consistent crypto buyer over the past months, indicated this week it may sell bitcoin to cover dividend obligations, per Executive Chairman Michael Saylor’s suggestion.

Lee said Bitmine remains profitable through staking income and cash generation, reducing pressure to liquidate crypto holdings during volatile markets. About 85% of Bitmine’s ETH holdings are staked, generating annualized staking revenue exceeding $300 million, or roughly $1 million per day.

The firm is also evaluating other uses for capital, including a recently announced $4 billion share repurchase program and further expansion of MAVAN, its institutional staking platform launched in March. The service is currently staking about $14 billion in digital assets, including ETH, Solana (SOL), and Canton (CC), according to Lee.

Beyond Ethereum, Lee highlighted Bitmine’s investments tied to AI and consumer platforms, including Eightco Holdings (ORBS) and MrBeast’s Beast Industries. He described Eightco as one of the few publicly traded companies offering indirect exposure to OpenAI and Sam Altman’s World project.

Throughout his keynote, Lee reiterated his view that Ethereum stands to benefit from two major trends: the tokenization of financial assets and the rise of AI systems relying on public blockchains for payments and verification.

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