Tom Lee says users 'starting to see Ethereum as money' as Bitmine adds 27,801 ETH

Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) increased its ether treasury to 5.77 million ETH tokens, giving it control of 4.8% of the world's second-largest cryptocurrency, the company said Monday.

At $1,820 per ETH, the Ethereum treasury is worth roughly $10.5 billion, positioning Bitmine as the largest corporate ether holder globally and the second-largest corporate crypto treasury overall, trailing only Strategy's $54 billion bitcoin position, according to a statement.

The latest figure marks an increase of 27,801 ETH over the prior week and places Bitmine 96% of the way toward its stated "alchemy of 5%" target, representing 5% of ether's 120.7 million-token supply.

Chairman Tom Lee said the company is maintaining an elevated pace of buying, pointing to the July 1 mainnet launch of Robinhood Chain as evidence of Ethereum's utility and product-market fit.

"Robinhood's 27 million users are paying crypto fees denominated in ETH," Lee said in the statement. "In other words, everyday users are starting to see ETH as money."

Ether dipped lower on Monday, down 1.95% over the prior 24 hours to $1,766, according to The Block's ETH price page. The asset trades 64% below its all-time high of $4,946, set in August 2025.

Bitmine said 4.92 million ETH, or more than 85% of its total holdings, is currently staked. According to the company, staking operations are running at a 2.70% seven-day yield, with annualized staking revenue projected at about $242 million, rising to roughly $284 million at scale through its MAVAN validator infrastructure.

Beyond ether, Bitmine reported holdings of 206 bitcoin, a $180 million stake in Beast Industries, a $69 million stake in Eightco Holdings, and total cash and marketable securities of $482 million.

Bitmine shares closed Friday's session at $14.98, up 1.97% on the day, according to The Block's BMNR price page.