BitMine Immersion Technologies, the Nasdaq-listed treasury firm that became the world’s largest corporate ether holder, plans to stop buying the token once its stack reaches 5% of ETH’s circulating supply. Chairman Tom Lee said Wednesday at TOKEN2049 in Singapore that the company is roughly 100,000 ETH from that ceiling and will halt purchases when it gets there, CoinDesk reported.
The announcement caps a weekly accumulation streak that began in June 2025 and raises a sharper question than it first appears: if more than a year of steady buying did not stop ETH from falling, how much does losing that predictable buyer actually matter?
How Close BitMine Is to Its 5% Ceiling
BitMine held 6,016,414 ETH as of its Monday update, worth about $15.5 billion and equal to roughly 4.9% of the 122.1 million tokens in circulation. The firm bought another $41 million in ether last week, and at that pace the final 100,000 ETH would take six to seven weeks to accumulate.
Lee framed the timeline as faster than expected. “We thought this would take five years,” he said on stage. “It took us a little over a year.” The company also holds $643 million in cash and marketable securities, more than twice what it would need to finish the run at current prices.
A Year of Weekly Buying That Failed to Hold Up Ether
The end of the buying matters less as a flow event than as a signal. BitMine has bought ETH every week since launching its treasury strategy in June 2025, yet the token is down sharply over that stretch and the position is sitting on roughly $4.5 billion in unrealized losses, according to data compiled by DropsTab and cited by CoinDesk. Much of that buying happened during last year’s bull market at higher prices, which is why the position is deeply underwater despite the steady dollar-cost averaging.
That record cuts against the idea that a single corporate buyer can anchor the price. CoinDesk itself framed the purchases cautiously, noting they “may or may not have helped support ETH.” On Wednesday the token fell about 5% over 24 hours to its weakest level since September 20, dropping nearly twice as much as bitcoin. BitMine’s ascent past 6 million ETH also came while the broader market was still sliding.
What to Watch After the Buying Stops
At roughly $41 million a week, BitMine’s purchases are a small share of ETH’s daily volume, so the direct flow impact of stopping is limited. The larger question is whether the firm’s exit removes a predictable, disclosed bid that traders had come to expect, and what it signals about the end of the treasury strategy.
Watch the 5% threshold over the next six to seven weeks, any word on how BitMine redeploys its $643 million cash reserve, and whether ether can stabilize after slipping below $2,600 as ETF outflows stretched into a sixth consecutive day.
