The Quiet Rise to 3.37% Ownership
When Bitmine Immersion Technologies started buying Ethereum last summer, nobody expected them to become one of the biggest holders on the planet in less than six months. But Monday’s numbers tell a different story. The company now owns just over 4 million ETH—roughly 3.37% of all the Ethereum in circulation—after scooping up another 99,000 coins in the past week alone.
At today’s price around $2,990 per token, that Ethereum stash is worth north of $12 billion. Throw in their 193 Bitcoin, a billion dollars in cash, a $32 million stake in Eightco Holdings, and a handful of smaller bets, and you’re looking at a balance sheet pushing $13.2 billion. It’s a massive pile of digital assets for any company, let alone one that was practically unknown in mainstream finance circles just a few years ago.
Inside the company, they’re calling this push the “Alchemy of 5%”—a reference to the old dream of turning common materials into gold, except here it’s cash into Ethereum. Hitting that 5% target means Bitmine needs to buy another 2.4 million ETH at current supply levels. To get there by the end of 2026, they’d have to keep up their current pace of roughly 92,000 coins every week. That’s an enormous ongoing commitment, and the market is starting to feel it.
What Happens When One Buyer Takes This Much Off the Market
Bitmine’s shopping spree is creating real ripples across Ethereum’s infrastructure. The amount of ETH sitting on major exchanges has dropped to multi-year lows—down about 7% since July, according to on-chain analytics. Less liquidity on exchanges means tighter spreads and choppier price action, which partly explains why Ethereum futures have been trading at a persistent premium. Traders are willing to pay extra just to lock in exposure.
At the same time, Bitmine isn’t just sitting on these coins. They’re routing a chunk of their holdings into Ethereum’s proof-of-stake network, helping push total staked supply up 6% in the past month. When the company’s “Made-in-America Validator Network”—yes, they’re actually calling it MAVAN—launches early next year, Bitmine could control around 8% of all active validators. That’s starting to raise eyebrows about concentration risk. How decentralized is Ethereum if a handful of big players run that much of the validation infrastructure?
Option traders seem to think Bitmine’s appetite isn’t slowing down anytime soon. There’s been a noticeable tilt toward upside call options expiring around the company’s January shareholder meeting, a sign that people expect the firm to keep buying and push prices higher.
The Stock Market Is Paying Attention Too
Bitmine’s stock—ticker BMNR—has turned into a crypto proxy on steroids. Daily trading volume now averages $1.7 billion, putting it right behind Wells Fargo and ahead of Chevron. That’s wild for a company most people hadn’t heard of until recently. Because about 68% of Bitmine’s book value is now in crypto, every 1% move in Ethereum’s price can swing the stock’s net asset value by double digits. That volatility is drawing in a whole new crowd of traders who want exposure to Ethereum without touching a wallet or an exchange.
It’s a similar playbook to what MicroStrategy did with Bitcoin, except Bitmine’s Ethereum focus pulls in a different set of investors—funds interested in decentralized finance, smart contracts, and the broader Web3 narrative rather than just the “digital gold” story.
A New Template for Corporate Treasuries
Bitmine’s race to 5% is happening at a curious moment. The SEC is still working through decisions on spot Ethereum ETFs, and if those get approved, it opens the door for other companies to treat ETH the way Bitmine does—as a legitimate treasury asset instead of a speculative side bet. Big-name investors like ARK Invest, Founders Fund, and Galaxy Digital are already on Bitmine’s cap table, lending the strategy instant credibility and giving other CFOs a blueprint to follow.
If more companies start copying this approach, Ethereum’s available supply could tighten even further. That would likely boost staking yields and shift more validator power toward large, professionally managed entities that prioritize compliance over community-run nodes. For regulators, that’s a headache. How do you handle a public company that effectively controls monetary policy levers on a blockchain that’s supposed to be permissionless?
Bitmine’s January 15 shareholder meeting in Las Vegas won’t be your typical corporate update. It’s shaping up as the first real test case for how traditional governance structures deal with companies whose fortunes—and strategic decisions—are now deeply tangled with the inner workings of a major decentralized network.
