BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR), the Ethereum-focused crypto treasury company led by Thomas Lee of Fundstrat, said Monday that it has acquired 96,798 in ether. Last week, it continued its buying spree as digital asset hoards remain under pressure due to falling crypto prices.
The latest purchase brought the company’s total ETH holdings to 3.73 million tokens, worth around $10.5 billion at latest prices, solidifying its lead as the largest Ethereum treasury company. The company also holds 192 bitcoins a $36 million stake in Eightco Holdings (ORBS) and $882 million in cash.
BitMine shares were down 7.7% premarket, with ETH plunging 6% overnight to just over $2,800.
Digital asset treasuries, or DATs, are feeling the heat as falling cryptocurrency prices and falling stock valuations have caused many to retreat. Most have stopped adding to their cryptocurrency stacks while some have even started selling, aiming to narrow the gap between their stock price and net asset value.
BitMine remained one of the few companies that continued to buy. However, the company is estimated to be sitting on nearly $4 billion in unrealized losses on its ETH reserve.
Upcoming Ethereum Upgrade, Fed Policy
BitMine’s Thomas Lee pointed to market conditions and the upcoming Ethereum network upgrade as key motivators for accelerating the pace of acquisitions compared to the previous week. The Fusaka upgrade, which is expected to be activated on December 3, is designed to improve the scalability, security and usability of the Ethereum network.
Speaking about the macroeconomic backdrop, Lee said the Federal Reserve is expected to end quantitative tightening (QT) this month and will likely cut interest rates at the December meeting, while crypto markets have stabilized since the October 10 crash.
“Collectively, we view this as acting as a tailwind for ETH prices and have therefore increased our weekly ETH purchases by 39%,” he said in a statement.
