Tom Lee's Bitmine Taps the Brakes on ETH Buys, Pivots $86M Into Stock Buyback

Decrypt Staff

Mon, July 20, 2026 astatine 11:12 AM CDT 2 min read

Ethereum treasury institution Bitmine hardly moved the needle connected its ETH stack past week, adding conscionable 7,430 ETH—about $14 million—as it steered superior toward buying backmost its ain shares instead.

This week's bargain pushed Bitmine's holdings to astir 5.78 cardinal ETH tokens, oregon astir 4.8% of Ethereum's circulating supply, according to the company. That leaves the steadfast inching toward its stated extremity of cornering 5% of the token's supply. Bitmine, which trades arsenic BMNR, is presently trading for $16.61, up astir 6% connected the day.

Bitmine present holds astir $11 cardinal worthy of Ethereum, making it the largest firm holder of ETH successful the world. It's besides 1 of the biggest integer plus treasuries, 2nd lone to Michael Saylor's Strategy, which itself holds astir $54 cardinal successful Bitcoin.

Still, for Bitmine, this latest acquisition marks 1 of the company's thinnest play additions since it kicked disconnected its Ethereum treasury strategy successful June 2025. The opposition is stark: Bitmine scooped up much than 111,000 ETH successful a azygous week backmost successful May.

Bitmine Chairman Tom Lee pinned the slowdown connected a stock repurchase, telling shareholders the steadfast bought backmost astir 5.5 cardinal communal shares astatine an mean terms of $15.62 nether its $4 cardinal buyback authorization. (Disclosure: Tom Lee is an capitalist successful Dastan, Decrypt's genitor company.)

"The reduced gait of buys reflects that Bitmine repurchased 5.5 cardinal communal shares," Lee said. He noted the institution has bought ETH each week since launching the strategy conscionable implicit a twelvemonth ago.

Apart from its ETH holdings, the institution besides contiguous reported a stash of 207 Bitcoin, $385 cardinal successful currency and securities, a $180 cardinal involvement successful Beast Industries and a $58 cardinal presumption successful Eightco Holdings.

The institution besides said it has staked 4.92 cardinal ETH—about 85% of its holdings—for projected annualized gross adjacent $247 cardinal via its MAVAN validator platform.