Tom Lee’s BitMine adds ETH again as BMNR stock stalls

BitMine Immersion Technologies said its Ethereum holdings reached 5,620,754 ETH as of June 14, bringing the company closer to its goal of owning 5% of the total ETH supply. 

In a Monday announcement, the company said the position equals 4.66% of Ethereum’s 120.7 million token supply.

Meanwhile, the company also reported total crypto, cash, marketable securities and “moonshots” holdings of $10.4 billion. Its holdings include 204 BTC, $502 million in cash and marketable securities, a $180 million stake in Beast Industries and an $88 million stake in Eightco Holdings.

Staking operation backs preferred stock plan

BitMine said it has staked 4,718,677 ETH, worth about $8.1 billion at $1,718 per ETH. The company said this makes it the largest Ethereum treasury in the world and the second-largest crypto treasury behind Strategy.

“Over the past week, we acquired 76,881 ETH,” said chairman Thomas “Tom” Lee.

 He said BitMine kept a higher buying pace because it believes the recent ETH pullback does not reflect stronger Ethereum fundamentals.

BitMine also closed the sale of 3,500,000 shares of 9.50% Series A Perpetual Preferred Stock on June 10. The company raised about $273.8 million in net proceeds after fees and expenses.

Lee said the preferred stock sale gives BitMine balance sheet diversification. He added that projected annual staking rewards of about $219 million provide recurring cash flow to support dividends on the preferred shares.

BMNR stock reaction stays muted

BitMine’s preferred shares are expected to start trading on the NYSE under the ticker BMNP on June 16. The company also declared a weekly cash dividend of $0.2639 per preferred share, expected to be paid on July 6 to holders of record on June 26.

BMNR stock showed little movement after the update. Google Finance data showed shares near $16.11, down about 0.03%, with a market capitalization of about $7.32 billion at the time checked.

The muted reaction came after several weeks of heavy attention on BitMine’s Ethereum treasury model. The company said BMNR ranks among the most traded U.S. stocks, with average daily dollar volume of about $550 million over five days as of June 12.

Ethereum treasury race gains fresh attention

crypto.news recently reported that BitMine had raised its ETH holdings to 5.42 million tokens after buying 26,497 ETH. The report also noted that the firm had staked 4.72 million ETH and remained one of the largest public Ethereum treasury plays.

Moreover, as crypto.news reported, BitMine had moved closer to its 5% ETH target after further buying activity tied to large wallet transfers. That report also noted pressure on BMNR shares as ETH prices weakened and investors weighed the scale of the treasury bet.

The latest release shows BitMine has continued to add ETH while also building cash reserves and preferred stock financing. The next focus for investors will be whether the company can keep growing ETH per share while meeting weekly dividend obligations.