Highlights
- BitMine added 28,086 ETH last week for roughly $70 million, lifting its total stake to 5,929,198 ETH.
- The treasury firm's Ethereum position is now about 4.9% of circulating supply, worth roughly $15.7 billion combined with cash and other assets.
- At a $3,347 average cost basis, the position carries an unrealized loss of $5.19 billion, down 26.2% from cost.
- Chairman Tom Lee has kept buying through the drawdown, extending BitMine's weekly accumulation streak.
BitMine Adds to Its ETH Stack Despite Billions in Paper Losses
BitMine Immersion Technologies, the Ethereum treasury company chaired by Fundstrat's Tom Lee, bought another 28,086 ETH last week for roughly $70 million, according to on-chain analysts tracking the firm's wallets. The purchase, made at an average price near $2,451 per ETH, lifts BitMine's total holdings to 5,929,198 ETH — about 4.9% of Ethereum's circulating supply.
Combined with cash and other assets, the firm's balance sheet now totals roughly $15.7 billion, with 5.07 million of its ETH actively staked. The catch is that BitMine's average cost basis across its entire position sits at $3,347 per token, meaning the stack it has been assembling since last year is now underwater by an estimated $5.19 billion, a 26.2% unrealized loss.
A Rollercoaster Year for BitMine's Ether Bet
The math behind the drawdown is straightforward. BitMine has spent much of 2026 dollar-cost averaging into ETH regardless of price, a strategy that has produced swings between multibillion-dollar paper gains and losses as Ethereum's price whipsawed through the year. The unrealized loss cracked $6 billion in February and approached $9 billion by June as ETH slid below $1,800; the position has since partially recovered as ETH climbed back toward the mid-$2,000s, only to widen again to roughly $5.19 billion at this week's tally. Tom Lee has publicly waved off concerns about the paper losses, describing the drawdowns as "a feature, not a bug" of a strategy built to accumulate a fixed percentage of ETH's total supply rather than time entry prices. That target — long stated as roughly 5% of supply — is now within reach: BitMine's 5,929,198 ETH works out to just under 4.9%, putting the firm on pace to cross the threshold within weeks at its recent buying cadence. The firm's staking activity has scaled alongside its holdings too, with more than 5 million ETH — over 85% of its stack — now generating yield rather than sitting idle, a detail that matters because BitMine's treasury earns ongoing staking rewards that partially offset the paper drawdown even while the position remains net negative on a mark-to-cost basis.
Related: BitMine's Ether Treasury Nears 5% of Total Supply After $330M Weekly Yield
What BitMine's Conviction Means for ETH Markets
BitMine's continued buying against a backdrop of billions in unrealized losses is being read on trading desks as a signal about how corporate treasury strategies are evolving beyond Strategy's bitcoin-only playbook. Where MicroStrategy-style vehicles have generally been rewarded for holding through drawdowns given bitcoin's tendency to make new highs, BitMine's experience underscores that Ethereum's price cycles have been rougher and slower to recover, testing the patience of a strategy explicitly built around supply share rather than cost basis. Still, the scale of BitMine's position gives it outsized influence on ETH's available float: with nearly 5% of supply locked on one balance sheet and the bulk of it staked, that ETH is effectively removed from circulating liquidity, a dynamic that tightens supply against any recovery in demand. Some analysts see this as constructive for ETH's medium-term price floor, since forced selling by a treasury company of BitMine's size would be unlikely outside an extreme liquidity event, and the firm has shown no sign of trimming its stack despite the drawdown. For the broader ETH treasury-company cohort that has emerged over the past two years, BitMine's results are also a live case study in the model's risks: the same leverage that lets these firms scale exposure to a token can just as easily amplify losses when the market turns, and BitMine's swelling paper deficit is the clearest public illustration yet of that downside.
What to Watch Next
The next test for BitMine's thesis is whether ETH can hold its recent recovery and push back toward the firm's average cost basis near $3,347, a level that would erase the unrealized loss entirely. Investors will also watch whether BitMine's weekly purchases continue at a similar pace once it crosses the symbolic 5% supply threshold, and whether Tom Lee adjusts the stated target once that milestone is reached. BitMine's next disclosure, expected in roughly a week given its weekly reporting cadence, will show whether the firm kept buying through further ETH volatility or paused for the first time in its accumulation streak — a pause that would mark a notable shift after months of uninterrupted weekly additions.
FAQ
How much ETH does BitMine currently hold?
As of its latest weekly disclosure, BitMine holds 5,929,198 ETH, worth roughly $14.65 billion on its own and about $15.7 billion including cash and other assets, equal to roughly 4.9% of Ethereum's circulating supply.
Why is BitMine's ETH position showing an unrealized loss?
BitMine's average cost basis across its holdings is about $3,347 per ETH. With ether trading well below that level, the position currently shows an estimated $5.19 billion unrealized loss, a 26.2% markdown from cost.
Has Tom Lee said he will stop buying ETH because of the losses?
No. Lee has called the drawdowns "a feature, not a bug" of a strategy built around accumulating a fixed share of ETH's supply, and BitMine added another 28,086 ETH last week despite the paper loss.
How much of BitMine's ETH is staked?
More than 5.07 million of BitMine's ETH — over 85% of its total holdings — is actively staked, generating yield that partially offsets the unrealized loss.
