Ethereum Price 6-Week High as BitMine Buys $138M ETH

Ethereum price punched through to a six-week high on Monday, gaining 9% in 24 hours to trade around $2,288 — and Tom Lee's treasury firm had a lot to say about it. BitMine Immersion Technologies disclosed it purchased 60,999 ETH — roughly $138 million worth — over the past week, extending a buying streak that shows no sign of letting up.

Why Is BitMine Still Buying at These Prices?

Tom Lee's thesis: ETH is exiting its 'mini-crypto winter'

BitMine's Chairman Tom Lee has a clear conviction call here. The firm bought a similar volume — around 61,000 ETH — the week prior, up from an earlier average of roughly 45,000–50,000 ETH per week. In a statement, Lee framed the acceleration bluntly: "BitMine has slightly increased the pace of ETH buys in each of the past two weeks, as our base case is ETH is in the final stages of the 'mini-crypto winter.'" That's not hedging. That's a bet.

One acquisition stood out even within the busy week — 5,000 ETH purchased directly from the Ethereum Foundation for approximately $10.2 million, disclosed on Saturday and folded into Monday's weekly total. Buying directly from the Foundation is unusual enough to raise eyebrows, and it adds a layer of symbolism to what BitMine is doing here.

Since the start of the Iran war, crypto prices have outperformed and Ethereum has outperformed the S&P 500 by 2,450bp (24.5%). This is a meaningful outperformance in a mere two weeks.

— Tom Lee, Chairman, BitMine Immersion Technologies

A $10.5 Billion ETH Stack — and Growing

BitMine's total holdings now sit at 4,595,562 ETH, valued at over $10.5 billion at Monday's prices — making it the single largest corporate accumulator of the asset by a wide margin. Of that pile, 3,040,515 ETH is staked, representing about 66% of the firm's supply. At its current staking rate, that generates roughly $180 million in annualized revenue, with Lee projecting that number climbs to $272 million once the full stack is staked, based on a 7-day yield of 2.81%.

The firm's own validator infrastructure — the Made in America Validator Network (MAVAN) — is still on track to launch before the end of Q1, which would give BitMine even tighter control over its staking operation. Lee put it plainly in his statement: "BitMine has staked more ETH than other entities in the world." Hard to argue with the numbers on that one. You can track recent ETH ETP flows to see how institutional appetite for Ethereum has shifted alongside moves like this.

The Eightco Play — Beyond Ethereum

Not everything BitMine touched this week was denominated in ETH. Tom Lee also joined the board of directors at Eightco (ticker: ORBS), an AI and blockchain firm that manages a Worldcoin treasury. BitMine — which had already held a smaller stake through its "moonshots" portfolio — poured another $75 million into Eightco last week, lifting its total stake to $83 million. The firm also holds $1.2 billion in cash, which gives it plenty of dry powder for further moves.

Shares of BMNR jumped more than 11% Monday to around $22.89. That rally looks good on a single-day chart, but zoom out: the stock is still down 59% over the past six months, a reflection of how brutally the ETH bear cycle treated treasury-model companies. BitMine's unrealized losses on its ETH position currently sit around $6.5 billion according to data from DropsTab — which calculates based on the firm's disclosed cost basis through November and estimated purchases since. It's worth watching how SEC delays on ETH ETFs might continue to weigh on institutional momentum in the space.

What Does This Mean for ETH Holders?

The short answer: someone with deep pockets keeps buying the dip. Hard. BitMine's accumulation pace — accelerating into a six-week price high, not pulling back — is the kind of signal that long-term ETH bulls point to when making the case that the bottom is behind us. The $2,301 daily peak Monday was the highest ETH has traded in roughly six weeks, and the context behind that move — a war-driven outperformance of 24.5% versus the S&P 500 over two weeks — makes it harder to dismiss as noise. Whether or not BMNR's thesis plays out, the firm's buying is becoming a structural force in Ethereum's price action.