Tom Lee Expects ‘Defining Year for Ethereum’ as BitMine Buys ETH Amid ‘Rock Bottom’ Vibes

Andrew Hayward

Wed, February 18, 2026 at 1:54 AM GMT+9 3 min read

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Leading Ethereum treasury company BitMine Immersion Technologies announced Tuesday that it purchased 45,759 ETH last week—currently valued at nearly $91 million—to boost its total stash to 4.37 million ETH, worth $8.68 billion.

While the company has seen the value of its holdings fall substantially in recent months with Ethereum’s 60% plunge from its all-time high mark of $4,946 set last August, BitMine Chairman Tom Lee remains optimistic about the network’s prospects. He expects 2026 to be a “defining year for Ethereum” after attending last week’s Consensus Hong Kong conference.

“We see strengthening product-market fit emerging on the back of three long-duration secular drivers: (i) Wall Street via tokenization/privacy on Ethereum; (ii) AI and AI-agents using Ethereum for both collecting payments as well as verification; and (iii) creators leaning towards ‘proof of human’ and other standards running on Ethereum layer-2 (Worldchain, etc),” he said in a statement.

“It is evident that Ethereum is well positioned to garner significant share,” Lee added, “given its neutrality and 100% uptime and reliability.”

BitMine’s Ethereum holdings are approximately $7.9 billion underwater, according to data from DropsTab. The publicly traded firm had disclosed its cost basis for Ethereum purchases in a late November filing with the SEC, with estimates used for more recent ETH buys.

The company also holds 193 Bitcoin ($13 million worth) and $670 million in cash. It also recently invested $200 million in Beast Industries, the company of YouTube creator MrBeast. BitMine also invested $17 million into Eightco Holdings, a company focused on amassing Worldcoin, the token of Worldchain and the World human verification platform.

While Lee remains bullish on Ethereum’s future in the wake of its dramatic drawdown, he admitted that bearish vibes have overtaken the market in recent months. Bitcoin remains 46% off its own all-time high mark above $126,000 from October, with most other major cryptocurrencies similarly nursing major drops from their own respective peaks.

"Investor sentiment and enthusiasm, by contrast, are rock bottom, reminding us of the forlornness and dejection seen at the November 2022 lows and depths of 2018 crypto winter,” Lee said, noting that there haven’t been high-profile company closures as there were in 2022. “Rather, it seems like crypto has remained weak since the ‘price shock’ and massive deleveraging seen on October 10.”

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Users on Myriad—a prediction market operated by Decrypt’s parent company, Dastan—remain bearish on Ethereum’s prospects ahead, penciling in a 68% chance that ETH will fall from its current price of about $1,990 to $1,500 sooner than it can rise back to $3,000.

Even with the flagging sentiment, BitMine keeps buying.

“We cannot control the price of Ethereum, and the company is acquiring ETH regardless of price trend, as the long-term outlook for Ethereum remains outstanding,” Lee added. “Hence, we continue to buy ETH even as crypto moves through this 'mini-winter.’”

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