Bitmine Immersion Technologies, which holds the largest known amount of Ethereum globally, recently purchased another 101,745 ETH for over $240 million. This brings their total Ethereum holdings to 5.18 million tokens. Company Chairman Tom Lee believes this indicates the start of a new, emerging crypto market cycle.
Bitmine recently bought 10,000 ETH directly from the Ethereum Foundation for an average of $2,292 per token. This purchase increases Bitmine’s total ETH holdings to 5,180,131 tokens, which represents about 4.29% of all ETH currently in circulation (120.7 million coins), according to a company press release. Bitmine is now 86% of the way to its goal of owning 5% of all existing ETH, a target they’ve dubbed the “Alchemy of 5%.”
Lee Calls The Cycle Turn
In an update on May 4th, Lee confidently announced the beginning of a new positive trend for cryptocurrencies, calling it “Crypto Spring.” He noted that, similar to previous market upturns, investors remain cautious and pessimistic even though crypto prices are starting to rise. This pattern – skepticism combined with growing institutional investment – has been seen before during periods of strong market growth.
Lee highlighted two key factors supporting his optimistic outlook for Ethereum. First, he noted the growing trend of Wall Street firms turning traditional financial assets into tokens on blockchain technology. Second, he believes the development of increasingly independent AI systems will drive demand for public and unbiased blockchains to handle payments and ensure accuracy – and he sees Ethereum as the leading platform to provide this infrastructure.
A Staking Machine At Scale
Bitmine doesn’t just collect cryptocurrency; it also actively earns rewards through staking. As of May 3rd, they had staked over 4.3 million ETH – more than 84% of their total holdings – using their secure staking platform, MAVAN, which launched in 2026. Currently, this staking generates $297 million in annual revenue, and they expect that to increase to $352 million once fully operational, based on a 2.91% seven-day yield rate.
The list of companies investing shows just how significant this venture is. According to a recent announcement, institutional investors include well-known firms like ARK Investment Management (led by Cathie Wood), Founders Fund, Pantera, Galaxy Digital, Kraken, and Digital Currency Group (DCG).
Currently, Ethereum is trading around $2,336, which is about 52% lower than its peak of $4,946 from last August. According to Lee, this undervaluation is similar to what’s been seen before major growth periods in the cryptocurrency industry.
Cover image from ChatGPT, ETHUSD chart from Tradingview
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2026-05-05 14:58