Tom Lee insists 'crypto bull market is underway' as Bitmine adds 10,452 ETH

Bitmine Immersion Technologies increased its Ethereum treasury to 6,051,933 ETH after acquiring 10,452 ETH over the past week, the company said in a statement on Monday.

At $2,356 per ETH, the holdings were worth approximately $14.3 billion as of Oct. 25. Bitmine now owns 4.95% of Ethereum's circulating supply of 122.2 million ETH, according to the statement.

Of the total, 5,227,037 ETH are staked through Bitmine's MAVAN platform and staking partners, representing about 86% of its holdings. The company said it projects annualized staking revenue of $318 million at current levels, and up to $368 million if its ETH holdings were fully staked.

Beyond ether, Bitmine reported holding 215 BTC, a $180 million stake in Beast Industries, a $76 million investment in Eightco Holdings, and $514 million in cash and marketable securities. Its combined crypto, cash, marketable securities, and other investments totaled $15 billion.

In addition to the ETH acquisition, Bitmine repurchased 2.04 million shares over the past week at an average price of $22.48. The company's buybacks this year have reached 22.9 million shares, costing $399.6 million at an average price of $17.48, per the statement.

Chairman Tom Lee reiterated his view that the "crypto bull market is underway," pointing to ETH's 13% pullback from its recent peak as evidence that the market is outperforming other risk-off sectors. The U.S. semiconductor sector was down 20% over the same period, according to Lee. 

According to The Block's ETH price page, ether traded at around $2,322 on Monday, down 0.4% over 24 hours.