Tom Lee Says Bitmine Could Be Included on Russell 1000 Index

Ether treasury company Bitmine Immersion Technologies has been included in a preliminary list for potential inclusion in the Russell 3000 index, a move that chairman Tom Lee hinted could provide tailwinds for the company’s stock.

FTSE Russell, a subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange Group, published a preliminary index inclusion list for the Russell 3000 on Friday, its index tracking the 3,000 largest companies in the US. 

Lee said in an X post Saturday that Bitmine could be included in the Russell 1000, an index tracking the largest 1,000 US companies, due to the index’s minimum market capitalization threshold of $5.7 billion. Bitmine’s market cap was $10.15 billion as of market close on Friday.

Lee said that “many active managers only buy equities on the Russell 1000,” adding that it is estimated that up to 25% of the market cap of a stock included in the index is held by passive index funds or exchange-traded funds.

Source: Tom Lee

Bitmine’s inclusion in the Russell 1000 would place it in the same index as major US large-cap equities, including tech giants Nvidia Corporation, Microsoft, and Apple and could trigger automatic buying by passive funds, providing traditional investors with indirect exposure to its Ether holdings.

FTSE Russell will provide further list updates on, June 5, June 12 and June 18, and the newly reconstituted indexes take effect after the US market close on June 26.

Bitmine stock down 30% year to date

Shares in Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) are down over 30% year-to-date and closed trading on Friday at $18.88. The company announced plans to build an Ether treasury in July 2025. By July 3, its stock had spiked to more than $135. The company disclosed holdings of 163,142 Ether worth about $500 million on July 14 of the same year.

Bitmine’s stock is down over 30% year-to-date. Source: Google Finance

As of last week, Bitmine held 5.28 million Ether, or about 4.37% of Ethereum’s total supply, with the company’s ultimate goal to hold 5% of the token’s circulating supply of 120.7 million. To hit its target of over 6 million Ether, Bitmine needs around 756,538 more in its stash.

Related: Ether pullback was ‘attractive opportunity’ for 71,672 ETH buy: Bitmine’s Lee 

Ether is down over 57% from its all-time high of $4,946, according to CoinGecko. BitMine also has an estimated $7.3 billion in paper losses due to the price drop. 

However, Lee previously argued that Ether’s steep drawdown may offer another buying opportunity and said last Monday that the company has staked most of its stash, with annualized staking revenues of $289 million.

Magazine: Polymarket seeks Japan entry, Harvard dumps entire ETH position: Hodler’s Digest, May 17 – 23