Bitmine (BMNR), the largest Ethereum treasury company, purchased 101,745 ether (ETH) last week as Chairman Thomas Lee said a new “crypto spring” was underway, although market sentiment remains subdued.
The purchase brought the company’s holdings to over 5.18 million ETH, or approximately 4.29% of the token’s outstanding assets, according to an update on Monday.
Bitmine’s total crypto and cash holdings stand at $13.1 billion. In addition to its ETH position, the company holds 200 bitcoins $700 million in cash and equity investments, including investments in Beast Industries and Eightco Holdings.
The latest purchase, worth approximately $238 million at current ETH prices, extended a streak of weekly high buying as the company doubles down on its large-scale ETH accumulation.
Crypto spring builds as CLARITY Act advances
The bet is anchored by the firm’s view that crypto markets are emerging from the “mini-winter” of the past few months, as Lee pointed to improving market conditions and positive signs of progress on U.S. digital asset regulation, known as the CLARITY Act.
“The U.S. Senate has released the compromise text of the CLARITY Act, and while it prohibits stable reserve yield, activity-based ‘rewards’ may be offered, in an effort to balance the protection needs of existing depository institutions (i.e. traditional banks),” he said in a statement. “This compromise seems largely acceptable to us, and we hope to see this bill passed in 2026.” Traders on Polymarket’s market predictions give more than a 60% chance of success this year, he added.
“Crypto Spring, in our view, has begun and like previous cycles, investor sentiment and conviction is muted and bearish, even as cryptocurrency prices strengthen,” Lee said.
Lee said Ethereum benefits from two long-term trends: the movement of financial assets onto blockchain rails known as tokenization and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) tools which he believes will seek neutral public networks for payments and verification.
He added that ETH is increasingly seen as both a store of value and a medium of exchange, citing its outperformance against stocks since the start of the Iran conflict.
BitMine has also expanded its staking operations, pledging over 4.36 million ETH – over 84% of its holdings – to generate yield, generating approximately $297 million in annualized revenue. Its MAVAN staking platform is designed to support both internal operations and external institutional demand. Lee will be speaking at CoinDesk’s Consensus Miami this week.
