Bitmine Immersion Technologies expanded its ETH holdings by another 9,946 tokens to 5,787,414 ETH at the end of July. As a result, the company holds 4.8 percent of the circulating Ethereum supply. That leaves just 250,000 tokens to the self-imposed 5 percent mark.
Ethereum treasury firms raise money on the capital markets and put it into a single cryptocurrency. They barely run a classic operating business. Bitmine ranks among the largest names in this category and trades on a US exchange. Chairman Tom Lee originally launched the Ethereum strategy in mid-2025. Its capital providers include ARK Invest, Founders Fund, Bill Miller III, Pantera Capital, Kraken, DCG and Galaxy Digital. Later, in March 2026, the company added its own validator platform, MAVAN. On the reporting date of the latest disclosure, ETH traded at USD 1,948. The holdings were therefore worth roughly USD 11.3 billion. Together with 208 BTC, cash and equity stakes, the balance sheet shows USD 11.8 billion in total.
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How close Bitmine's ETH holdings are to the 5 percent mark
The math behind the target is simple. With roughly 120.7 million ETH in circulation, 5 percent equals about 6.04 million tokens. Bitmine holds 5,787,414 of them and thus sits at 4.8 percent. Formally, some 250,000 ETH are still missing. Internally, the company runs the strategy under the name "Alchemy of 5%".
However, the buying pace has slowed markedly. In the week to 21 June, the treasury provider still acquired 52,203 ETH for around USD 90 million. The latest tranche of 9,946 tokens therefore amounts to less than a fifth of that token amount. In total, a good 114,000 ETH came in over the past five weeks. Bitmine had also crossed the 4.8 percent threshold a week earlier. Since then the ratio has not moved.
For the Ethereum market, concentration on this scale is comparatively unusual. A single balance-sheet holder controls almost one twentieth of all outstanding tokens. The counterposition of just 208 BTC shows how narrowly the focus sits on Ethereum. The company also holds stakes in Beast Industries and Eightco Holdings. Outsiders can still track the buildup, since Bitmine reports its holdings weekly.
How MAVAN earns yield on the ETH holdings
MAVAN stands for Made in America Validator Network. The name itself stresses that the validators sit in the US. Bitmine launched the platform in March 2026 and positioned it as the world's largest Ethereum staking infrastructure. Ethereum secures its network through proof of stake. Validators deposit tokens and confirm transactions in return. Through its own validators, the treasury provider takes on that job itself instead of outsourcing it to external service providers. So the holdings do not simply sit idle on the balance sheet.
The platform holds 4,917,189 ETH worth USD 9.6 billion. That amounts to roughly 85 percent of the position. The annualized yield over the past seven days stood at 2.65 percent. That implies a projected annual return of about USD 254 million. With full staking, the company's own calculation puts the figure as high as USD 299 million.
These projections are not fixed returns, however. They depend on the fluctuating network yield and on the staked share at any given time. Around 15 percent of the holdings currently remain unstaked. If the yield or the staked share falls, the projection drops accordingly. Furthermore, recent estimates ranged from USD 244 million to USD 299 million, depending on the source and the reporting date. Nevertheless, this income stream marks the central difference from the Bitcoin treasury model. A Bitcoin position pays nothing during the holding period, whereas an Ethereum position earns yield through staking.
The disputed cost basis behind the billion-dollar position
The size of the position is clear, its cost basis is not. Bitmine itself at times cited an average purchase price of around USD 2,840 per ETH. That figure sat close to the spot price at the time of individual announcements. On-chain analysts at Lookonchain, by contrast, arrive at roughly USD 3,997. Other market observers put it at USD 3,800 to 4,000. So far the company has not published a detailed breakdown of its cost basis.
This range is no side note, because it determines the size of the book loss. Consequently, the implied losses differ by several billion USD, depending on the cost basis. In early June 2026, ETH first fell below USD 1,800 and thus well under its October 2025 high. The unrealized loss at that point came to around USD 8.9 billion. Bitmine likewise provided no breakdown of its own for these estimates. By late June the price stood at roughly USD 1,569.
Since then ETH has recovered to USD 1,950. As a result, the value of the holdings is back at around USD 11.3 billion. Against the circulating cost-basis estimates, the position still sits deep in the red. Until a sale, that loss exists only on paper. Without official figures, though, outsiders cannot conclusively judge how profitable the strategy is.
Where Bitmine stands in the Ethereum treasury race
The blueprint is Strategy, the listed Bitcoin vehicle that previously operated as MicroStrategy. Bitmine transfers that model to Ethereum. In both cases the share price hangs directly on the price of the token held. Direct competition comes from SharpLink Gaming, which is building its own ETH treasury. Moreover, both providers fund their purchases through the capital markets rather than out of operating income. At the same time, they draw on the same circulating supply.
Tom Lee keeps pairing the purchases with public market commentary. The ETH price recently reached a 10-week high. He names USD 2,000 and USD 2,500 as the next technical resistance levels. That first level sits only slightly above the latest quoted price. In addition, he points to the ETH/BTC ratio as an indicator of Ethereum's relative strength. Meanwhile, the company has started buying back its own shares.
"We have stepped up our share repurchase as we view the rising ETH/BTC ratio ... as a sign of strengthening crypto prices. This ratio is now at a 3-month high of 0.3000, which in our view favors further strengthening of ETH prices." - Tom Lee, Chairman of Bitmine Immersion Technologies
Some 250,000 ETH are still missing before the 5 percent mark. At the latest quoted price, that equals about USD 490 million. Relative to a crypto and cash position of USD 11.8 billion, that is a comparatively manageable amount. Ultimately, the cost basis of the existing position remains the decisive yardstick for the strategy.
