Tom Lee: BitMine is approaching the "5% of Ethereum supply" target, which may slow down ETH purchase speed

Mars Finance News, May 8 — Ethereum treasury company BitMine Chairman Tom Lee stated at the Consensus 2026 conference that, as the largest Ethereum treasury company, BitMine may slow down ETH purchasing as it approaches its cumulative target. The company currently holds over 5.1 million ETH, valued at approximately $11.9 billion at current prices. Lee said the company initially expected to take five years to accumulate 5% of the total ETH supply. However, as of this week, it has already acquired 4.29%, less than a year since launching this strategy. Tom Lee stated, “At our current weekly purchase rate of 100k ETH, we will reach the 5% target in about six weeks. I think we are considering or perhaps hoping to accumulate at a slightly slower pace.” This statement marks a change in tone for BitMine. BitMine is one of the few large digital asset treasury companies actively buying cryptocurrencies during the market downturn, while many competitors have paused accumulation. The largest corporate Bitcoin holder, Strategy (MSTR), which has been continuously buying crypto assets over the past few months, announced this week that it may sell Bitcoin to fulfill dividend obligations, following advice from its executive chairman Michael Saylor. Tom Lee said that BitMine maintains profitability through staking income and cash flow, easing the pressure to liquidate crypto holdings in volatile markets. About 85% of BitMine’s ETH holdings are staked, generating over $300 million in annualized staking income, roughly $1 million daily. The company is also evaluating other capital uses, including the recently announced $4 billion share repurchase plan and further expansion of its institutional staking platform MAVAN, launched in March. Besides Ethereum, Tom Lee also highlighted BitMine’s investments in AI and consumer platforms, including Eightco Holdings (ORBS) and MrBeast’s Beast Industries. He described Eightco as one of the few listed companies providing indirect exposure to OpenAI and Sam Altman’s World project. Throughout his keynote speech, Tom Lee reiterated his view that Ethereum will benefit from two major trends: the tokenization of financial assets and the increasing reliance of AI systems on public blockchains for payments and verification.