BitMine Immersion Technologies will cap its Ether holdings at 5% of the cryptocurrency’s supply, according to Chairman Tom Lee, who said the company will not keep accumulating beyond that level.
Speaking during a keynote at Token2049 in Singapore on Wednesday, Lee said BitMine is close to the threshold after building a position of roughly 6 million ETH, equal to about 4.9% of supply. He said the company needs about 100,000 more ETH to reach the target.
“That’s a hard cap. We’re not gonna be accumulating past 5%,” Lee said. “We’re not gonna own more than 5% of Ethereum.”
Lee had previously left open the possibility that BitMine could accumulate more than 5% of Ether’s supply depending on Ethereum adoption. In an August interview with Bankless, he said the company may revisit that possibility in 2027.
BitMine says its Ether buildup is effectively complete
Lee said BitMine bought most of its Ether during what he described as a crypto bear market, allowing the company to build its holdings while prices were depressed.
“We did all this buying in a bear market,” Lee said. “We protected the downside for ETH because we were buying. But now, we’re done stacking in front of a 25X move.”
He also tied the 5% hard cap to BitMine’s capital strategy. Once accumulation stops, the company would no longer need to raise additional funds to keep buying Ether.
“So if we have a 5% hard cap, that means we’re gonna outperform ETH on the way up, right?” Lee said. “‘Cause you don’t have to worry about us trying to raise capital. We’re done.”
In a related report, Cointelegraph said BitMine projects $334 million in annual staking revenue from a $15.8 billion crypto treasury.
Capital markets and buybacks remain part of the treasury story
BitMine has used capital markets to build its Ether treasury. In June, the company launched a $300 million perpetual preferred stock offering. By early August, it had repurchased 16.1 million common shares under its $4 billion buyback program.
Even after Ether purchases stop, staking could still add to BitMine’s holdings. Lee previously said the company could sell ETH earned through staking to keep its share of supply from rising above 5%.