Bitmine Slows ETH Buys to Fund $4 Billion Stock Buyback

Bitmine, the world's largest corporate holder of Ethereum, sharply slowed its weekly ETH purchases to fund a large buyback of its own shares. The firm added just 7,430 coins over the past week, compared with more than 111,000 ETH bought in a single week back in May. The slowdown came as the company poured capital into a $4 billion stock repurchase program led by chairman Tom Lee.

Weekly ETH Buys Slow Down

Bitmine Immersion Technologies started out as a small Bitcoin mining company. In spring 2025 it hired well-known analyst Tom Lee and launched an Ethereum accumulation strategy. In just over a year, the firm turned into the world's largest corporate holder of ETH, overtaking rivals like SharpLink Gaming.

Bitmine's holdings grew to 5.78 million ETH last week, close to 4.9% of Ethereum's entire circulating supply. The company has previously stated a goal of accumulating 5% of the Ethereum supply, and this week's purchase moved it closer to that mark. The added 7,430 coins were worth roughly $14 million at current prices, with ETH trading near $1,900. On the day the report was published, Ethereum gained faster than Bitcoin: ETH added more than 2.8%, while BTC rose less than 2%.

By comparison, Bitmine bought more than 111,000 ETH in a single week back in May. The new pace ranks among the smallest since the company launched its Ethereum treasury strategy in June 2025. It was one of its quietest weeks yet. Still, the firm has bought ETH every single week for more than a year. Earlier this month, Tom Lee tied the pace of buys to rising odds that the CLARITY Act would pass in the US, a bill meant to clarify the legal status of digital assets for institutional investors.

A $4 Billion Stock Buyback

Bitmine chairman Tom Lee explained the slower pace by pointing to the company's decision to direct capital toward buying back its own shares. Over the week, Bitmine repurchased 5.5 million common shares at an average price of $15.62 each under its previously authorized $4 billion program. The operation cost roughly $86 million in total. The buyback has been running for several weeks straight, and this time it claimed a bigger share of capital than usual. Bitmine's board approved the $4 billion buyback program back in spring, arguing that the stock traded below the value of the company's assets. That discount to book value is common among other public crypto treasuries, including Strategy.

"The reduced pace of buys reflects that Bitmine repurchased 5.5 million common shares."

- Tom Lee, Chairman of Bitmine, in a statement to shareholders

According to Lee, the company has bought ETH every week since launching the strategy. The buyback doesn't cancel that plan, it just temporarily shifts the balance between the two uses of capital.

Company Reserves and Staking Income

Bitmine's total assets, including crypto, cash and securities, are valued at roughly $11.5 billion. Beyond ETH, the company's balance sheet holds several other positions:

• 207 Bitcoin in corporate reserves
• $385 million in cash and liquid securities
• $180 million stake in Beast Industries
• $58 million position in Eightco Holdings

Beast Industries, the media company behind YouTuber MrBeast, and Eightco Holdings, a public company also building its own digital-reserve strategy, sit in Bitmine's portfolio outside its core ETH stack. The firm treats both stakes as long-term holdings.

About 4.92 million ETH, or 85% of its entire stack, is staked through Bitmine's own validator network and partners under the MAVAN platform. The platform lets institutional clients delegate staking without running their own nodes, and Bitmine earns an infrastructure fee for it. According to the company, staking generated $45.7 million in revenue over the three months ending in May. That's nearly 98% of Bitmine's total revenue for the period, meaning staking rewards, not coin trading, are the firm's main source of profit.

Market Reaction and Standing Among Treasuries

Bitmine remains the second-largest public crypto treasury after Michael Saylor's Strategy, whose Bitcoin holdings are valued at roughly $54 billion. Strategy also paused BTC purchases for a second straight week, instead raising $225 million by selling its own stock and pushing its cash reserve to $3.2 billion. Its Bitcoin stash stayed untouched.

Bitmine shares, traded under the ticker BMNR on NYSE American, closed at $16.61, up almost 6% on the day and 3.3% over the past month. The market took the pause in ETH buying calmly. Investors read the buyback as a sign of management's confidence in the company's valuation, not as a weaker appetite for Ethereum.

Both of the largest corporate holders of digital assets chose the same tactic this week. Instead of selling crypto, they raised funds through their own shares. It points to a new phase in how public crypto treasuries operate, where balancing coin accumulation with capital management matters as much as the size of the reserves themselves. Bitmine is set to publish its next weekly reserve update in a week.