Bitmine Buys $20M in ETH as Tom Lee Hails Vitalik Buterin’s Store-of-Value Shift
Key Takeaways
- Bitmine purchased another 9,587 ETH, bringing its holdings to 6.07 million tokens, or approximately 4.97% of Ethereum’s circulating supply, nearing its 5% accumulation goal.
- Chairman Tom Lee praised Vitalik Buterin’s endorsement of ETH as a store of value, calling it a “seismic shift” that strengthens Ethereum’s role in the growing tokenization economy.
- Bitmine reported $14.3 billion in total holdings, including 5.23 million staked ETH generating an estimated $309 million in annualized staking revenue.
In a Monday announcement, Bitmine said its holdings reached 6,070,092 ETH as of Nov. 8, representing approximately 4.97% of the cryptocurrency’s circulating supply of 122.2 million tokens. The latest acquisition was worth approximately $20.4 million at ether’s recent price of $2,134. Bitmine’s total ETH stash is currently worth over $12.9 billion.
The company’s combined cryptocurrency holdings, cash, marketable securities, and strategic investments totaled $14.3 billion, down from $14.5 billion a week earlier despite the additional ETH purchases. Bitmine has continued purchasing ETH every week since launching its treasury strategy in June 2025, establishing itself as the largest publicly traded corporate holder of ether.
The company is now approximately 40,000 ETH away from reaching its stated 5% ownership target, at which point Lee said the firm plans to stop steadily buying the cryptocurrency. As previously reported by Bitcoin.com News, Bitmine purchased 8,573 ETH the previous week, bringing its holdings to 6.06 million tokens.
Lee Sees Major Shift in Buterin’s ETH Outlook
Beyond the latest purchase, Lee focused on Buterin’s recent remarks at Devcon 8 in Mumbai, where the Ethereum co-founder declared that ETH should be considered money and a store of value rather than primarily an asset whose value depends on transaction-fee burns.
“This declaration by the founder of Ethereum, in my view, is a seismic shift, clarifying how ETH will capture value in this coming supercycle of tokenization and AI,” Lee said.
Lee argued that ether’s investment appeal rests on its usefulness as trusted collateral and its position within the Ethereum network, particularly as traditional financial institutions increasingly explore blockchain-based assets.
“In my opinion, ETH was not a ‘cash flow’ token model, like HYPE or LIT, but rather pristine and trusted collateral,” Lee said.
Buterin expanded on his reasoning in a Sunday post on X, arguing that Ethereum’s fee-burning mechanism provides a weaker foundation for ETH’s valuation than previously believed. He said pursuing higher fee burns could also conflict with the network’s decentralization and resistance to outside control.
Instead, Buterin suggested that Ethereum’s long-term durability, security, privacy and decentralization make a stronger case for ETH as a store of value. He supported retaining the network’s existing fee-burning mechanism, but cautioned against treating the volume of burned tokens as the primary measure of ETH’s economic value.
Lee said that interpretation reinforces Bitmine’s investment strategy, particularly as tokenized financial assets become more widely adopted.
“ETH as a store of value is most consistent with the future roadmap of ETH and also the role ETH will play in the coming super tokenization supercycle,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bitmine reported that 5,227,037 ETH, or approximately 86% of its holdings, are currently staked to generate rewards. The company estimates annualized staking revenue of $309 million at current yields, potentially increasing to $359 million if its entire ETH treasury is staked.
Bitmine has also expanded its Made in America Validator Network (MAVAN), which provides Ethereum staking infrastructure for both its treasury and outside institutional clients.
The continued purchases come amid a turbulent period for cryptocurrency markets. Last week, Lee downplayed the impact of the recent $6.3 billion Binance hack, arguing that ether’s comparatively modest price decline following the incident demonstrated improving market resilience.
Despite the recent volatility, Bitmine remains the world’s second-largest publicly traded cryptocurrency treasury company by reported holdings value—behind bitcoin-focused Strategy with its $63 billion in BTC—as it approaches the completion of its ambitious ETH accumulation campaign.
