Bitmine's Ethereum Buying Slows as It Nears 5% Target

Bitmine Immersion Technologies (NASDAQ: BMNR) is nearing its goal of controlling 5% of all Ethereum in circulation, and if it reaches this target, it may stop buying ETH. This could have a significant impact on the Ethereum market, as Bitmine has been one of the top buyers of ETH. According to Arkham Intelligence, Bitmine has already started to temper the pace of its accumulation, adding only 7,391 ETH (about $14.2 million) last week, down from over 100,000 ETH weekly purchases earlier in the year.

Tom Lee, the co-founder of Fundstrat who runs the treasury strategy for Bitmine, intimated in May that the firm would throttle its Ethereum purchases to avoid hitting the 5% target too quickly. As of June, Bitmine's weekly ETH purchases were down by more than 75%. The firm has been buying back BMNR stock instead, with over $50 million spent on 3 million shares last week alone.

Unlike Michael Saylor's Strategy (NASDAQ: MSTR), which has stopped buying Bitcoin altogether since June to buy back its STRC preferred shares, Bitmine stakes most of its ETH through its MAVAN validator network, generating projected annualized staking income of about $257 million at a 2.63% yield.