Bitmine Ethereum staking rate surpasses 70%: $320 million in funds drive ETH staking structure upgrade

Ethereum’s largest corporate holder, Bitmine, is once again expanding its staking footprint. On-chain data shows that the company transferred approximately $320 million worth of Ethereum into staking addresses within the past 24 hours, pushing its ETH staking ratio past the 70% mark for the first time. This move not only sets a new record for enterprise-level Ethereum holdings in staking but also sparks widespread discussion in the market about Ethereum’s staking economic model, concentration risks, and institutional strategic intentions.

$320 Million On-Chain Transfer

According to on-chain data from Arkham Intelligence, on Thursday morning Eastern Time, Bitmine transferred about 75,600 ETH to Coinbase Prime for staking. Prior to that, on Wednesday, over 61,200 ETH were similarly staked—marking the company’s first staking activity in nearly three weeks.

Blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain monitored and confirmed this activity. Data indicates that Bitmine’s total staked Ethereum has now reached approximately 3.5 million ETH, valued at about $8.1 billion at current market prices. This scale accounts for roughly 70.1% of the company’s total Ethereum holdings.

As of April 24, 2026, Gate.io’s market data shows Ethereum trading at $2,309.13, down 0.55% over the past 24 hours, with a trading volume of $285.9 million. Ethereum’s market cap is approximately $275.69 billion, representing 10.41% of the total crypto market capitalization.

Notably, Lookonchain further pointed out that before Thursday’s staking operation, three suspected wallets linked to Bitmine received about 100,000 ETH, worth roughly $234M. If this information is accurate and included in the total holdings, Bitmine’s Ethereum holdings would rise to about 5.08 million ETH, surpassing the second-largest holder, SharpLink, which owns 868,699 ETH by over 580%. The company’s total supply control would increase to over 4.1%, just shy of its 5% target.

Exploring the Staking Path: Coinbase Prime and MAVAN Running in Parallel

Although Bitmine announced in March this year plans to migrate all Ethereum treasury assets to its own on-chain staking platform MAVAN, recent operations show that new batches of ETH are still routed through Coinbase Prime for staking.

This “dual-track” transitional state warrants examination. MAVAN was officially launched last month, positioned as Bitmine’s infrastructure layer within the Ethereum ecosystem. The company previously estimated that once the migration is complete, with a 2.83% seven-day annual yield, the annual staking revenue could approach $300 million.

In reality, switching institutional-grade staking infrastructure is not just a matter of changing addresses. From compliant custody and private key management to risk hedging against penalties, each link requires rigorous internal audits and stress testing. Currently, Coinbase Prime still handles the actual staking channels, indicating that full deployment of MAVAN is still in a phased rollout.

Decoding Strategic Intent: Why Increase Staking Now

Bitmine’s increased staking is not an isolated event. Reports this Monday indicated that the company had purchased over 100,000 ETH in the previous week. Bitmine Chairman Tom Lee publicly stated that he believes Ethereum is in the “final stage of a mini crypto winter.”

From a holdings strategy perspective, this series of actions presents a clear “accumulate—stake—reinvest earnings” cycle. During deep price corrections, converting idle assets into income-generating assets can effectively hedge holding costs and generate dual benefits when market sentiment improves.

Some analysts view this move as a signal of institutional confidence in Ethereum’s long-term value. However, others warn that locking over 70% of holdings into staking contracts introduces concentration risk at the liquidity layer. In the event of sudden market volatility or protocol-level security incidents, unlocking periods could become a key bottleneck restricting flexibility.

Industry Structural Impact: Rebalancing the Staking Economy

Bitmine’s staking scale has a dual significance for Ethereum’s network security and consensus.

Positive Aspects

Large-scale participation by enterprise holdings enhances the network’s decentralization of validators and economic security. The 3.5 million ETH staked means these assets are locked away from circulating supply, objectively reducing tradable liquidity in the market.

Potential Concerns

Supply-side centralization cannot be ignored. When a single entity controls a significant proportion of total staked ETH, it could influence the composition of validator sets. Although Ethereum’s protocol design inherently resists collusion, capital concentration always poses a long-term structural challenge to decentralization.

Another aspect to watch is the staking derivatives market. Bitmine’s large-scale staking will release more liquid staking tokens into the ecosystem, potentially impacting DeFi protocols’ interest rate curves and collateral structures. Investors holding related positions should monitor marginal changes in staking yields.

Conclusion

Bitmine’s move to push ETH staking above 70% marks a milestone in its enterprise Ethereum strategy and exemplifies deep institutional participation in blockchain consensus. From on-chain verifiability to strategic inference, this event provides a comprehensive case study for the industry to examine institutional staking behavior. Until MAVAN’s platform is fully operational, market attention will likely focus on the pace of staking pathway transitions and the actual performance of yield realization. The next phase of Ethereum’s staking economy is accelerating.