BitMine Adds $150M in ETH, Lifting Holdings Above 3% of Supply

Instead of reducing exposure as volatility rises, BitMine has taken the opportunity to deepen its position, adding substantial amounts of ETH even as sentiment across the Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) market deteriorates.

Aggressive Accumulation Strategy

The latest purchase, worth roughly $150 million, adds to a series of sizable acquisitions executed within days of each other. Blockchain data shows that BitMine sourced new ETH through custodians such as BitGo and major exchanges like Kraken, lifting its total holdings above 3% of the entire Ethereum supply. This buying streak includes a major consolidation earlier in the week and follows a smaller accumulation round at the end of last week.

BitMine has made no secret of its objective: it wants to control 5% of all ETH in circulation, a goal tied to its long-term thesis that Ethereum will become a foundational asset for settlement infrastructure, tokenized markets, and institutional finance.

Market Confidence Wanes Amidst Expansion

Ironically, BitMine’s expanding ETH portfolio has coincided with a severe downturn in its public-market valuation. Its stock, BMNR, has dropped more than 81% from its highs, reflecting investors’ concern about both the firm’s leverage and the unrealized losses tied to its treasury — estimated at nearly $2.8 billion. Although BitMine’s reserves stand near $12 billion, the market is increasingly nervous about the firm’s exposure at a time when broader treasury appetite for ETH has collapsed.

DAT Market Contracts

While BitMine presses forward, activity across the DAT ecosystem has dropped sharply. According to figures released by Bitwise, monthly ETH purchases from other treasury firms plunged from nearly 2 million ETH in August to just 370,000 ETH in November. Many smaller treasuries that expanded aggressively earlier in the year are now encountering liquidity pressure, shrinking premiums, and falling mNAV multiples.

Bitwise researcher Max Shannon described the current reset as a mirror of past speculative cycles: early exuberance, rapid participation, and then an abrupt decline once capacity and capital were stretched too thin. Shannon warned that although treasury buying still exceeds new ETH issuance for now, the surplus is disappearing quickly — a sign that the unwind phase is gaining momentum.

A Stark Contrast to Previous Accumulation Waves

The slowdown is particularly striking given that early 2025 saw unprecedented demand for ETH from corporate treasuries. Firms such as SharpLink Gaming executed nine-figure purchases as part of efforts to gain exposure to Ethereum’s expanding financial ecosystem. That wave of buying has now almost evaporated.

BitMine is the exception. Whether its contrarian stance will ultimately prove prescient or precarious remains to be seen, but in a market where nearly everyone else has stepped back, its continued accumulation stands out as the defining strategy of this phase in the Ethereum treasury landscape.