Ethereum: Bitmine extends ‘alchemy of 5%’ target to December – Why?

Bitmine Immersion Technologies, led by Tom Lee, has slowed down its Ethereum [ETH] purchases, with a fresh aim to acquire 5% of the market by December. According to a recent press release, Bitmine now has 5,206,790 ETH in total, valued at $11.89 billion. With an average price of $2,366 per ETH, Bitmine now owns 4.31% of the total supply.  Disclosing the new plan of action, Lee said,  We have decided to slow down our pace of weekly accumulation from >100,000 per week as we originally targeted reaching the 'alchemy of 5%' target in late 2026. Our previous pace of >100k weekly buys would have us reach 5% by mid-July. Is Bitmine postponing plans until after the 'crypto spring'? Lee even contended that the cryptocurrency market might be about to enter a new bullish phase known as a “crypto spring.” The latter describes the time following a bear market when sentiment improves, prices begin to rise, and a new bull cycle starts. Lee claims that Ethereum is in a strong position to gain from the growing trend of financial institutions. He also pointed to ETH’s price structure as a bullish indicator and said,  If ETH closes above $2,100 at the end of May 2026, this would be the third consecutive monthly gain – this has never been seen in a crypto bear market. He believes such a move would validate the market's exit from a bearish phase and the start of a new crypto bull cycle. Staked ETH and more Bitmine has also staked 4,712,917 ETH at a price of $2,366 each, totaling $11.1 billion. With the assistance of MAVAN (the Made in America Validator Network), Bitmine estimated that the yearly ETH staking reward would be $352 million.  This follows a 3.83% increase in Bitmine's stock price, which was trading at $23.02 at press time. At the same time, ETH was changing hands at $2,292.56 after a drop of 1.78% in the past 24 hours. As recently reported by CryptoQuant, this bearish mood has led many investors to believe that ETH is currently in a “stagnant range.”   Current on-chain data paints a bearish picture The Ethereum Exchange Netflow data also showed that, as of late, the chart shows a sharp rise in positive inflows near May 2026. This implies that traders are once more putting ETH on exchanges, possibly in an attempt to profit from the recent rebound toward the $2.3K mark. Given that investors usually transfer coins to exchanges when they are ready to sell, this indicates that the current dynamic may be causing selling pressure. All of this supports Bitmine's decision to postpone its plan until December. Final Summary Bitmine has accumulated a total of 5,206,790 ETH at an average price of $2,366 per ETH. Tom Lee is projecting an upcoming “crypto spring” market, even though ETH's price action and Exchange Netflow are raising eyebrows.