BitMine Adds $214M in Ethereum, Calls Crypto Selloff "Superficial

BitMine Immersion Technologies, the largest Ethereum treasury firm, acquired 126,971 ETH valued at approximately $214 million last week in its largest ETH-denominated purchase of 2026, bringing its total holdings to 5,543,872 ETH worth around $9.3 billion. Chairman Tom Lee characterized the broader market decline as a "superficial take," arguing that recent events have strengthened the case for Ethereum rather than weakened it. "The broad selloff in crypto, in our view, is a superficial take," Lee said in a statement. "AI systems are going to find flaws in centralized financial services rails and weak decentralized protocols. We believe this actually strengthens the use case and product market fit for hardened and reliable decentralized blockchains like Ethereum."

The purchase came during a week in which uncertainty over whether a vulnerability in privacy protocol Zcash had been exploited drove a 40% plunge in the price of ZEC, though the token has since recovered some of those losses. Ethereum itself fell to its lowest price in over a year, dipping to about $1,522 late Friday before ticking up over the weekend, and has declined nearly 15% over the past week of trading. ETH has rebounded around 4% in the last 24 hours, recently changing hands around $1,686. "We believe ETH prices should not be coming under pressure," Lee added.

Around 85% of BitMine's Ethereum is currently staked through its Made-in-America Validator Network (MAVAN), generating projected staking revenue of approximately $230 million annually. If the firm staked its entire balance, it would project to annualize around $270 million, according to Lee. Despite the recent acquisition, BitMine's Ethereum treasury remains roughly $9.7 billion underwater in unrealized losses, per data from DropsTab.

BitMine, which trades under the ticker BMNR, also priced a larger-than-expected preferred stock offering on Friday, selling 3.5 million shares of newly created Series A Perpetual Preferred Stock at $80 per share — up from the 3 million shares initially planned. The company expects to raise an estimated $273.8 million, with the deal set to close on June 10 pending customary conditions. The preferred share carries a 9.5% annual dividend, following the approach of Bitcoin treasury firm Strategy, and proceeds are intended to fund future ETH acquisitions and other business purposes.