In brief
- Bitcoin miner BitMine this month raised $250 million through a private placement to buy ETH.
- Its shares briefly shot up in value Monday as it crossed $500 million in Ethereum holdings.
- The firm previously said the Ethereum blockchain has value due to what is being used upon it—namely stablecoins.
The price of Bitcoin miner BitMine Immersion Technologies jumped on Monday after the NYSE-listed company, which in late June announced a private placement to add to its Ethereum treasury, surpassed $500 million in ETH holdings through its latest purchases of the asset. But by the end of the day, most of the gains had evaporated.
BitMine (BMNR) stock spiked to a daily peak of $59.00—a 45% surge over the Friday closing price of $40.62. But by the end of a highly volatile day, the stock price had fallen to $41.02, barely 1% up on the day. And the falling price of ETH put the value of its stockpile under $500 million by that point, as well.
The company’s stock price has ranged wildly over the past month amid the start of its ETH treasury strategy, with closing prices spanning the vast distance from $4.26 to $135. It’s up 727% over the past month, yet down nearly 62% over the last week due to wild peaks and valleys.
In a statement, BitMine Board Chairman Thomas Lee said that Monday’s milestone of amassing $500 million worth of ETH “validates our mission to increase our stake in the Ethereum network.”
Shares jumped after the firm announced the ETH-focused stock sale, and that Lee, the well-regarded analyst and managing partner at equity research group Fundstrat Global, had become its board chair.
BitMine said last week that it had raised $250 million through the stock sale.
Lee reiterated his praise for Ethereum’s usefulness for tokenization, citing a recent comment from Vlad Tenev, the CEO of trading platform Robinhood.
Lee quoted Tenev in saying that “tokenization is the greatest capital markets innovation since the central limit order book,” with Lee adding that it’s “showing how Wall Street is converging onto crypto.”
“Ethereum is the layer-1 blockchain with the greatest share,” Lee added.
The firm now holds 163,142 ETH worth roughly $490 million based on Ethereum’s current price at just over $3,000 per token.
Bitcoin miners have faced an increasingly challenging path with last year’s halving diminishing the rewards for verifying transactions and amid increased competition and the demands of keeping operational costs in check. That has prompted a number of these firms to look for alternative revenue streams, including BitMine’s decision to dive into an Ethereum treasury strategy.
Bitcoin miner BIT Mining’s stock soared 143% last week after the company announced plans to raise $200-$300 million to create a Solana treasury. Meanwhile, SharpLink Gaming—a gambling-focused marketing firm turned Ethereum treasury—has seen its shares rise more than 300% year-to-date, with the gains coming in more recent months as it has purchased ETH.
Strategy pioneered the model in 2020, pivoting its focus from software development to Bitcoin acquisition, and its share price has risen nearly 3,000% over that period.
“We have witnessed the reflexive benefit of acquiring large holdings,” Lee said, adding: “Such sizable holdings has created a ‘sovereign put’ for the company, meaning a nation-state views MSTR holdings as attractive if a nation ever wanted to acquire 5% of the Bitcoin network. Similarly, ETH treasuries which accumulate 5% of ETH supply can benefit from a similar ‘Wall Street put.'”
ETH is the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain, which is used by developers to build products for the internet such as crypto exchanges, games, and NFTs. With a market cap of $363 billion, it is the second-biggest digital asset behind only Bitcoin.
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