Tom Lee’s BitMine Immersion Technologies added another 208,137 ETH to its crypto treasury over the last week, pushing the value of its holdings to over $3 billion as Ether’s price surged on Monday.
The latest buy pushed BitMine’s total holdings to 833,137 Ether (ETH), according to a statement on Monday, as it widens its lead over the second-largest Ether treasury firm, SharpLink Gaming.
ETH rose 5.8% from its lowest to highest 24-hour price point of $3,730 on Monday but has since fallen back to $3,654, CoinGecko data shows.
With ETH’s price above the $3,700 level, BitMine is the fourth-largest crypto treasury firm in the world, trailing Strategy, MARA Holdings and Twenty One Capital. It has been only 35 days since the company announced its Ethereum treasury strategy.
The firm is chaired by Fundstrat chief investment officer, Tom Lee, and has attracted financing from billionaire investors Bill Miller III, Stanley Druckenmiller and ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood.
Strengthening institutional confidence in ETH has been a key driver behind ETH’s triple-digit rally over the past three months, making up some distance on competitors like Bitcoin (BTC) and Solana (SOL), which have been leading the current bull cycle.
BitMine continues to dominate the ETH accumulation race
The rapid accumulation has sparked a competitive race among Ethereum treasury firms.
“BitMine moved with lightning speed in its pursuit of the ‘alchemy of 5%’ of ETH, growing our ETH holdings to over 833,000 from zero 35 days ago,” Lee said, adding:
“We have separated ourselves among crypto treasury peers by both the velocity of raising crypto NAV per share and by the high liquidity of our stock.”
Several competitors are in the race
SharpLink holds the second-largest ETH stack with more than 438,200 coins, worth $1.61 billion, while The Ether Machine is third with 345,400 ETH to its name after making a $40 million purchase on Monday.
Related: Ether unlikely to break $3,800 without stronger institutional demand
The Ethereum Foundation and PulseChain SAC round out the top five at 232,600 ETH and 166,300 ETH each, StrategicETHReserve data shows.
Lee shares rare bullish market sentiment for August
Lee told CNBC that he expects market prices to rise in August due to recent labor data signaling a softening job market, encouraging the Federal Reserve to pivot from tightening to a more accommodative easing policy and stimulate housing.
“I think we’re going to rally pretty strongly in August,” Lee said, adding the Standard and Poor’s 500 could return to all-time highs in the next couple of weeks, and given the crypto market’s strong correlation to the broader market, such an outcome would likely push Ether and the crypto market higher as well.
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