Tom Lee’s BitMine boosts Ethereum treasury near 4.6 million ETH as cryptos post ‘meaningful outperformance’ during Iran war

Tom Lee’s crypto treasury firm BitMine Immersion has continued its aggressive Ethereum accumulation, adding nearly 61,000 tokens over the past week amid military escalations in the Middle East involving Iran, Israel, and the United States.

The latest purchase of around 60,999 ETH pushes BitMine's total treasury holdings to roughly 4.596 million ETH, worth over $10.4 billion at Monday’s ether prices.

BitMine (BMNR) added that its combined crypto assets, cash, and venture-style "moonshot" investments now total about $11.5 billion.

The pace closely mirrors the company’s previous weekly addition, when BitMine expanded its holdings to about 4.53 million ETH after buying 60,976 tokens. It also lifts the firm’s share of Ethereum's circulating supply to about 3.8% as it seeks to control 5% of available tokens, according to Monday's statement.

A large share of the firm’s Ethereum position is already deployed in staking. BitMine reported that about 3.04 million ETH are currently staked, equivalent to roughly $6.6 billion, generating annualized staking revenue of about $180 million.

Bitmine Chairman Tom Lee said the company has slightly increased the pace of its ETH purchases in recent weeks as he believes the market may be approaching the end of what he previously called a "mini-crypto winter."

"Since the start of the Iran war, crypto prices have outperformed, and Ethereum has outperformed the S&P 500 by 2,450bp. This is a meaningful outperformance in a mere two weeks," Lee noted.

BitMine has also been active on other fronts tied to its Ethereum strategy. The firm recently purchased 5,000 ETH directly from the Ethereum Foundation in a roughly $10 million over-the-counter transaction, providing the nonprofit with funding while avoiding open-market selling.

The company has simultaneously expanded investments tied to its "moonshot" portfolio, including an additional $80 million allocation to Eightco Holdings, a publicly traded firm that recently disclosed a $50 million equity investment in OpenAI. Eightco shares surged after announcing a broader $125 million capital raise backed by BitMine and other investors, The Block reported.