Bitmine's Tom Lee calls ether 'the wartime store of value' as holdings hit 4.87 million tokens
The company now holds 4.04% of all ether in existence and currently earns $212 million in annualized revenue from staking.
By Shaurya Malwa|Edited by Stephen AlpherUpdated Apr 13, 2026, 1:27 p.m. Published Apr 13, 2026, 1:19 p.m. Make preferred on
What to know:
- Bitmine Immersion Technologies now holds 4.87 million ether worth $10.7 billion, putting it 81 percent of the way to its goal of owning 5 percent of all ETH and making it the largest corporate ether treasury in the world.
- Chairman Tom Lee called ether "the wartime store of value," noting that ETH has gained 17.4 percent since the Iran war began, sharply outperforming the S&P 500 and gold, and said he believes ETH is in the final stages of a "mini-crypto winter."
- Bitmine has staked 3.33 million ETH, or 68 percent of its holdings, generating an annualized $212 million in staking revenue, while its total holdings, including cash and equity "moonshots," stand at $11.8 billion following its recent uplisting to the New York Stock Exchange.
Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) now holds 4.87 million ether worth $10.7 billion and is 81% of the way to its target of owning 5% of the entire ETH supply, according to a Monday release that also included chairman Tom Lee calling ether "the wartime store of value."
BMNR shares are lower by 2.25% premarket alongside ether's weekend decline to $2,199. The stock is lower by 32% year-to-date.
Lee pointed to ETH's 17.4% gain since the Iran war began seven weeks ago, outperforming the S&P 500 by 1,830 basis points and gold by 2,743 basis points.
"We believe ETH beating gold by 2,743 basis points demonstrates ETH is the wartime store of value," Lee said.
The company bought 71,524 ETH last week, maintaining its elevated purchase pace for the fourth consecutive week and matching the highest rate of accumulation since late December 2025. Lee said Bitmine's "base case is ETH is in the final stages of the mini-crypto winter."
Staking has become a significant revenue line. Bitmine has 3,334,637 ETH staked, representing 68% of its holdings and $7.4 billion in value, generating $212 million in annualized staking revenue at a 7-day yield of 2.89%.
Total holdings, including cash and what the company calls "moonshots" stand at $11.8 billion. That includes $719 million in cash, a $200 million stake in Beast Industries, and an $85 million position in Eightco Holdings, which Bitmine described as "one of the only publicly listed equities in the world to give investors direct exposure to OpenAI."
The company uplisted to the New York Stock Exchange from NYSE American on April 9, trading under BMNR with an average daily dollar volume of $747 million, ranking it 117th among all U.S.-listed stocks. The institutional investor base includes ARK's Cathie Wood, Founders Fund, Pantera, Kraken, Galaxy Digital, and Lee personally.
Lee cited "Wall Street tokenizing on the blockchain" and "agentic AI systems increasingly needing public and neutral blockchains" as dual tailwinds for Ethereum, framing the asset as a play on both institutional adoption and AI infrastructure rather than purely a DeFi token.
Bitmine ranks as the largest corporate ether treasury in the world and the second-largest crypto treasury overall behind Strategy's 766,970 BTC.
More For You
Nearly $120 million of XRP just moved to Coinbase in whale transaction
By Omkar Godbole, AI Boost|Edited by Stephen Alpher41 minutes ago
XRP is flat over the past 24 hours, but down more than 60% from its summer 2025 peak.
What to know:
- Nearly 89.8 million XRP, worth about $119 million, was moved through intermediary wallets to a Coinbase-linked address.
- Such large "whale" transfers to centralized exchanges are often seen as a sign that major holders may be preparing to sell or rebalance their positions, though other motives are possible.
Nearly $120 million of XRP just moved to Coinbase in whale transaction
41 minutes ago
CoinDesk 20 performance update: index falls 2.9% as all constituents trade lower
49 minutes ago
Foundry unveils Zcash block explorer as mining pool reaches 30% of hashrate
1 hour ago
WLFI mints $25 million in fresh USD1 and burns $3 million, days after repayment claim
1 hour ago
Strategy buys 13,927 bitcoin for $1 billion, entirely through STRC
1 hour ago
AI agents are set to power crypto payments, but a hidden flaw could expose wallets
2 hours agoTop Stories
WLFI threatens legal action against Justin Sun after he accuses Trump-linked project of deceptive DeFi deals
8 hours ago
Alameda moves $16 million in Solana's SOL token for possible creditor distribution
7 hours ago
Attacker mints $1 billion Polkadot tokens on Ethereum, ends up stealing just $250,000
6 hours ago
The one metric investors are overlooking in Michael Saylor’s Strategy
3 hours ago
Bitcoin anchors near $70,000 as RAVE's 3,400% surge signals speculative froth
2 hours ago
