Bitmine Buys $75 Million in Ether as Tom Lee Predicts Institutional Catch-Up

Bitmine Immersion Technologies, the largest Ethereum focused treasury company, continued its steady accumulation of ether last week, even as its chairman argued that institutional investors remain significantly underexposed to crypto.

Continued Accumulation Strategy

The company purchased over 27,000 ETH, worth roughly $75 million at current prices, bringing its total holdings to nearly 6 million tokens, close to 5 percent of ether’s total supply. The firm has maintained a consistent weekly buying pattern since shifting to a crypto treasury strategy last year and could reach its accumulation target within the next few months. A large portion of its holdings are staked, generating substantial projected annual revenue from staking rewards. Company shares rose sharply in early trading, extending gains from the previous session as ether hit its highest level since January.

Institutions May Be Playing Catch-Up

Bitmine’s chairman argued that institutional investors have largely stayed underweight on crypto this year, partly due to strong performance from artificial intelligence related stocks earlier in the year. He noted that ether’s sharp rise since mid-year has significantly outpaced broader stock market gains, a gap he believes could prompt fund managers to increase their crypto exposure before year end. He also pointed to growing interest in tokenization and blockchain based AI infrastructure as longer-term factors that could drive institutional adoption.