Tom Lee blames bitcoin, ether weakness on quarter-end rebalancing as Bitmine (BMNR) buys $43M ETH

Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR), the largest Ethereum treasury company, bought 27,084 ether (ETH) last week, extending its accumulation streak despite another slide in crypto prices.

The purchase, worth roughly $43 million based on ETH’s current price of around $1,580, lifted Bitmine’s holdings to 5.7 million ETH, according to a Monday company update. The stash is worth about $8.9 billion and represents roughly 4.7% of Ethereum’s circulating supply, nearing the firm’s 5% goal.

The company also held 206 bitcoin, $555 million in cash and marketable securities and stakes in Beast Industries and Eightco Holdings, bringing total crypto, cash and investment holdings to $9.8 billion.

The latest acquisition was the smallest purchase since early May, down from 52,203 ETH the previous week and well below the 126,971 ETH batch earlier this month, suggesting the company is dialing back its buying pace after months of aggressive accumulation. Bitmine nevertheless remains one of the few large digital asset treasury firms still consistently adding to its crypto holdings while many peers have paused purchases amid the market downturn.

Crypto weakness

Chairman Thomas “Tom” Lee pointed to quarter-end rebalancing behind the latest bout of weakness in crypto markets with investors cutting their losses as we enter the second-half of the year.