The Ethereum treasury company founded by Wall Street analyst Tom Lee is now underwater by more than $6.3 billion.
Bitmine paid an average price above $3,600 per ETH across its holdings, while Ethereum currently trades around $2,300 — a gap that has widened as the broader crypto market remains under pressure.
Yet rather than pulling back, the company bought more last week than it ever has in a single week this year.
Bitmine acquired 101,901 ETH between April 20 and April 27, pushing its total holdings to 5,078,386 ETH.
According to a press release from the company, this marks a new record for weekly buying pace in 2026, edging past the 101,627 ETH it purchased the week before. That previous week had itself been the largest single-week buy of the year at the time.
JUST IN: 💰 BitMine purchased 101,901 ETH last week, pushing its total holdings past 5 million ETH for the first time — or 4.21% of total Ethereum supply. pic.twitter.com/NFUi7oFKTt
— CoinMarketCap (@CoinMarketCap) April 27, 2026
10 Months To Reach A Historic Milestone
Lee called the 5 million ETH milestone “astonishing,” noting it took the company just 10 months to reach it. He said Bitmine is moving toward a longer-term goal of holding 5% of the total ETH supply — a target that would require acquiring millions more tokens at current supply levels.
Part of the recent accumulation included a direct purchase from the Ethereum Foundation. Reports indicate Bitmine bought 10,000 ETH from the Foundation in an over-the-counter transaction, as the Foundation continues selling holdings to fund its operations.
Lee pointed to several research reports as the basis for his bullish stance on ETH. He argues the asset is becoming a store of value and will increasingly be held as collateral as crypto spreads through mainstream finance.
He also cited demand from AI agents that rely on public, neutral blockchains as another growth driver for Ethereum.
Lee added that ETH has outpaced the S&P 500 in performance since the start of the US-Iran conflict and called it one of the best-performing assets in the world during that period, behind only crude oil.
BMNR Stock Holds Steady Despite Heavy Losses On Paper
Shares of Bitmine — traded under the ticker BMNR — were up roughly 1% at around $22 at Monday’s market open, according to TradingView data.
The gains were modest. The stock remains down more than 20% year-to-date, tracking closely with ETH’s own decline of roughly 20% over the same stretch.
Despite the losses, Bitmine shows no signs of slowing its buying. The company’s latest purchase signals that management views the current price as an opportunity, not a warning.
Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView