Bitmine's Ethereum Treasury Nears $9 Billion Unrealized Loss as Ether Slides Below $1,800

Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR), the largest corporate holder of ether ($ETH), is sitting on roughly $8.9 billion in unrealized losses after the second-largest cryptocurrency fell below $1,800, according to data collected by DropsTab. The Tom Lee-chaired company holds more than 5.4 million $ETH — about 4.5% of Ethereum's circulating supply — a position valued at approximately $10 billion at current prices but accumulated at significantly higher levels.

Shares of Bitmine dropped 5.9% on Wednesday, slipping below $17 and extending their decline to 28% since early May. The stock has now fallen below its February lows to its weakest level since the company announced its pivot to an Ethereum treasury strategy in 2025. The selloff tracks $ETH, which has lost more than 20% since early May when Lee, the co-founder of Fundstrat, argued that the market's "mini crypto winter" had likely ended and a new "crypto spring" had begun.

The drawdown underscores renewed pressure across the digital asset treasury sector, where companies seek to replicate the playbook pioneered by Michael Saylor's MicroStrategy (MSTR) by raising capital through public markets to accumulate crypto. That model has grown harder to sustain as prices weakened and several treasury stocks drifted below the value of their underlying assets. Strategy itself recently disclosed its first bitcoin sale since 2022, raising questions about how it might fund future obligations tied to its preferred stock offerings.

Bitmine's situation differs in several respects. The company financed its $ETH purchases primarily through equity issuance rather than debt, leaving it without the leverage concerns and interest payments that some treasury peers face. Bitmine also generates revenue from staking $ETH and operating its staking service MAVAN. The company has staked more than 4.7 million $ETH — about 87% of its holdings — and recently estimated annualized staking revenue at roughly $276 million.

The recent price action has not dimmed Lee's long-term outlook. Speaking at the Proof of Talk conference in Paris earlier this week, he said $ETH could eventually reach $250,000 as tokenization, AI-driven transactions and corporate staking reshape Ethereum's role in the global financial system. With $ETH now back near levels last seen during February's selloff, Bitmine's treasury remains deep underwater, highlighting the gap between the chairman's long-term thesis and the market's current pricing of the asset.