Bitmine adds $68 million in ether as Tom Lee eyes additional upside catalysts

The Ethereum treasury company is nearing its 5% accumulation target, with Lee highlighting a strengthening ETH-BTC ratio, institutional demand, and possible U.S. crypto legislation as demand drivers.

— Bitmine acquired 27,180 ether last week, valued at about $68 million based on Monday’s ETH price.

— The company now holds 5.96 million ETH, leaving it about 144,000 tokens short of its aim to own 5% of Ethereum’s supply.

— Lee pointed to the rising ETH-BTC ratio, which is on the verge of ending a four-year downtrend, and potential U.S. crypto legislation as possible catalysts for demand.

Bitmine’s ETH Holdings

The purchase was worth roughly $68 million at Monday’s ether price, just above $2,500, bringing the company’s holdings to 5,956,378 ETH. With ether’s supply at about 122 million tokens, Bitmine needs around another 144,000 ETH to reach the 6.1 million mark, putting its target within reach if it maintains its current acquisition pace.

Bitmine’s buying remained at about the same pace as the prior week. The company has added ether every week since launching its Ethereum treasury strategy in June 2025.

The steady accumulation comes as Tom Lee, Bitmine’s chairman and Fundstrat’s founder, identified several factors that could support ETH in the final months of the year.

One factor is ether’s relative strength versus bitcoin. Lee said the ETH-BTC ratio climbed to its highest level since Jan. 30 and moved above a downtrend that had been in place since 2022, establishing a new uptrend.

Lee said the move reflects Ethereum’s stronger role as the settlement infrastructure for Wall Street tokenization and growing recognition that Ethereum may be central to agentic-AI management.

Lee also cited a Senate vote on U.S. crypto market-structure legislation, best known as the Clarity Act, expected Tuesday, along with renewed crypto buying from Korean investors.

Tokenized equities are leading real-world-asset inflows as the market recovers; Binance’s bStocks reached about $118.5 million in two months, making it the second-largest issuer and accounting for roughly 90% of on-chain equity DEX volume.

Why This Matters:

Tokenized equities are leading real-world-asset inflows as the market recovers; Binance’s bStocks reached about $118.5 million in two months, making it the second-largest issuer and accounting for roughly 90% of on-chain equity DEX volume.