Bitmine Grows Ethereum Reserve to 5.9 Million Coins With $131 Million Buy

Bitmine Immersion Technologies, led by chairman Tom Lee, spent $131 million buying 53,501 ETH over the past week. It is the company's largest single purchase since June, and it pushes Bitmine's reserve to 5.9 million ETH. The move matters most for how institutional investors read Ethereum right now, as they watch big players' behavior during the summer market recovery and weigh whether to add their own crypto exposure.

The biggest Ethereum buy of the summer

According to Cointelegraph, Bitmine bought 53,501 ETH for roughly $131 million, based on a reference price of $2,511 per coin as of Sunday. That extends a 65-week streak in which the company has bought Ethereum without a single pause since launching its treasury strategy on June 30, 2025. Purchase sizes had slowed in recent weeks, so last week's jump to $131 million was the largest since June and showed the company picking up the pace again. Bitmine, once focused on mining hardware, turned into the largest public Ethereum treasury after Tom Lee, co-founder of research firm Fundstrat, took over as chairman.

Counting cash, Bitcoin and other assets, Bitmine's total holdings reached $15.6 billion as of Saturday. That includes 211 BTC, $541 million in cash and marketable securities, a $180 million stake in Beast Industries and an $81 million position in Eightco Holdings. The company's NYSE-listed shares under the ticker BMNR rose 1.3% on Monday morning to $24.09, on track to close the month up nearly 40%.

How this shows up in the ETH market

Chairman Tom Lee said Ethereum, Bitcoin and Solana have been the three best-performing major assets since June 30, with ETH posting the biggest gain. Ethereum outpaced the S&P 500 by 5,430 basis points so far this quarter, he said.

"We believe this sets the stage for institutions to add to their crypto holdings given the substantial outperformance of crypto versus other macro assets in 3Q so far."

- Tom Lee, chairman of Bitmine, company statement, August 31, 2026

For traders, that boils down to one simple thing. As long as a large structural buyer keeps purchasing every week, sharp sell-offs look less likely in the near term. Bitcoin and Solana ranked second and third in that comparison, pointing to broader institutional interest beyond a single asset. Traditional ETF channels are showing similar demand: market estimates put net inflows into Bitcoin funds at roughly $217 million last week, while altcoin funds kept extending their run of positive days.

The race toward 5% of the token's supply

The 5.9 million ETH reserve equals 4.9% of Ethereum's total supply of 120.7 million tokens. Bitmine calls this goal its "Alchemy of 5%" and says, by its own count, it is already 98% of the way there. The company remains the world's largest Ethereum treasury and the second-largest crypto treasury of any kind, trailing only Michael Saylor's Strategy.

At the same time, 86% of the reserve, or more than 5 million ETH, is staked through the MAVAN platform. That generates a projected annual revenue of about $335 million for the company and turns a passive reserve into a source of regular cash flow. The closer Bitmine gets to the 5% mark, the fewer free coins remain on exchanges for quick sale, which gradually affects market depth and how fast price reacts to news.

Bitmine isn't the only public treasury player in the Ethereum market, but it dwarfs its rivals by reserve size. For the network, that means the share of holders willing to sell at the first opportunity keeps shrinking, while long-term holders play a bigger role in setting the price.

Billions in paper losses don't faze Lee

The accumulation strategy has cost Bitmine dearly. By DropsTab's estimate, the company is sitting on roughly $5.1 billion in unrealized losses on its ETH position. The cause was a prolonged market drawdown that began in the fourth quarter of last year, and most of the buying happened right through that period.

By comparison, Michael Saylor's Strategy walked a similar path this summer and has already turned a corner. Its 840,447 BTC position swung to roughly $2.8 billion in paper profit after months underwater, with the company's total holdings now worth about $66 billion. Bitmine hasn't seen that turnaround yet. Still, as long as the coins stay unsold, the loss remains an accounting entry rather than an actual loss of cash.

• A large part of the company's reserve is still underwater at the current Ethereum price.
• Bitmine is counting on further ETH price gains to restore profitability, not on cutting losses.
• Strategy followed a similar playbook with Bitcoin and also went through a long stretch of paper losses.
• The market reads the unbroken buying streak as a sign of long-term conviction rather than panic buying at the bottom.

What the trend means for institutional investors

Bitmine is building its ETH position at the same time as Strategy, which returned to buying Bitcoin this week for the first time since June and spent $370 million doing it. Both companies are following the same logic. Large treasuries don't wait for a perfect entry point; they buy regularly, regardless of short-term price swings.

For Ethereum holders in Ukraine, this is mainly a signal of stability. When a major institutional player keeps buying despite billions in paper losses, there's less reason to expect a sharp price crash in the coming weeks. Anyone planning to lock in some profit and sell Ethereum for hryvnia gets an extra reference point: demand from companies like Bitmine is propping up the price floor even when retail traders are exiting positions.

Bitmine keeps its 65-week buying streak going, and as long as the company has the capital and patience to hold billions in paper losses, the market gets a rare example of a major player adding to a position on the way down, not just on the way up. The next few weeks will show whether the pace holds once only a handful of coins stand between Bitmine and the 5% mark.