Bitmine slows Ethereum purchases, adds 7,430 ether worth $14M as it nears 5% supply target

Bitmine Immersion Technologies has taken its foot off the Ethereum gas pedal. The NYSE-listed company purchased just 7,430 ETH last week, worth roughly $14M, a dramatic cooldown from the six-figure weekly buys it had been making in prior months.

The reason is straightforward: the company is closing in on its stated goal of owning 5% of Ethereum’s total circulating supply. And with that milestone nearly in hand, Bitmine is redirecting capital toward buying back its own stock instead of more ether.

From accumulation mode to capital reallocation

To appreciate how sharp this deceleration is, consider the numbers. Bitmine had previously been purchasing upwards of 120,000 ETH in a single week. Last week’s 7,430 ETH represents a decline of more than 93% from that pace.

The company currently holds between 5.5 and 5.78 million ETH, which constitutes approximately 4.5% to 4.8% of Ethereum’s circulating supply.

CEO Tom Lee has pointed to the firm’s proximity to the 5% ownership threshold as the primary driver behind the moderation.

Instead of continuing to accumulate ether, Bitmine executed an $86M stock buyback last week, repurchasing approximately 5.5 million of its own shares. The company has also expanded its total buyback authorization to $4B, up from $1B earlier in 2026.

The MicroStrategy playbook, Ethereum edition

Bitmine’s strategy will look familiar to anyone who watched MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin accumulation over the past few years. Buy a massive amount of a single crypto asset, hold it on the corporate balance sheet, and let the stock become a leveraged proxy for that asset’s price movements.

The company hasn’t abandoned its crypto thesis entirely. Over 4.7 million of its ETH holdings are staked through the MAVAN validator platform, meaning Bitmine is earning yield on the vast majority of its position.

What this means for Ethereum and investors

When a single entity has been absorbing six figures worth of ETH tokens per week and suddenly drops to four figures, that’s a non-trivial reduction in demand. That said, the company isn’t selling. Its 5.5 to 5.78 million ETH hoard remains intact and largely staked, meaning those tokens are locked up and unavailable for trading.

For Bitmine shareholders specifically, the $86M buyback and expanded $4B authorization represent a significant shift in how the company plans to create value. Rather than relying solely on ETH price appreciation to drive returns, the company is now actively engineering earnings-per-share growth through share count reduction.