Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) said it now holds 4.8 million ether (ETH) worth approximately $10.2 billion at current prices, putting the company within range of its stated goal of accumulating 5% of the total ether supply.
In a statement released Monday, the company also announced that its shares will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange, from the NYSE American, starting April 9.
Bitmine holds 3.98% of the 120.7 million ethers in circulation, compared to Bitcoin Strategy’s 3.8%. 20 million. Both companies have turned cash accumulation into stock talk, and both are buying aggressively as prices fall.
Bitmine acquired 71,252 ETH over the past week, its highest pace of purchases since late December, according to President Tom Lee, who framed the purchase as a bet that ether is in “the final stages of mini-crypto winter.”
Total crypto and cash holdings now stand at $11.4 billion, including $864 million in cash, 198 BTC, and smaller positions in Beast Industries and Eightco Holdings.
Bitmine’s model deviates from strategy when it comes to staking or depositing tokens to help secure the Ethereum blockchain in exchange for a reward. Of the 4.8 million ETH held, 3.33 million are staked through Mavan, the company’s institutional-grade validator network that began operating on Monday.
This staked position is worth approximately $7.1 billion and generates $196 million in annualized staking revenue at a yield of 2.78%, giving Bitmine a recurring revenue stream that Strategy’s Bitcoin treasury does not have.
At full deployment, when all of Bitmine’s ETH is staked, the company expects $282 million in annual rewards.
Lee defended wartime ether in his announcement, noting that ETH has gained 6.8% since the start of the Iranian conflict, outperforming the S&P 500 by 1,130 basis points and gold by 1,840 basis points. “ETH is the wartime store of value,” Lee said, a framework that would have been difficult to dispute six months ago but is now backed by data.
Bitmine is now the 96th most traded stock in the United States with an average daily volume of $987 million, ranking between Schlumberger and Adobe. The investor base includes ARK Invest, Founders Fund, Pantera, Galaxy Digital and Kraken.
