BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR), the largest company holding the second largest cryptocurrency, Ether made its largest ETH purchase of the year last week following a key shareholder vote that gave the company new room to raise capital.
The company said Monday that it added 40,302 ETH — worth nearly $117 million at current prices — to its treasury, bringing its holdings to more than 4.24 million tokens, or 3.52% of the ether supply.
The company’s crypto and cash holdings now total $12.8 billion, including 193 bitcoins. $682 million in cash and stakes in Eightco Holdings and its $200 million investment in Beast Industries, the company founded by YouTube creator MrBeast.
The purchases follow shareholder approval of an increase in BitMine’s authorized share count, allowing the company to raise additional funds through the issuance of shares. This financial flexibility has allowed BitMine to resume more aggressive accumulation after signaling earlier this month that purchases could slow without new authorization.
BitMine said it also invested more than 2 million ETH, almost half of its total holdings, turning a significant portion of its treasury into a yield-generating asset. The fast pace of the business has contributed to congestion on the Ethereum staking network, where the wait time to become a new validator has now reached 54 days.
The company expects to generate more than $400 million in annual pretax profit from its ether holdings, Chairman Tom Lee said at a shareholder meeting earlier this month.
Read more: Tom Lee’s BitMine pushes Ethereum into $8 billion staking delay
