Ether buying company Bitmine Immersion Technologies made its biggest purchase yet in 2026 as its CEO Tom Lee doubled down on the idea of an upcoming cryptocurrency supercycle.
Leeward he said on Tuesday that Bitmine bought 111,942 Ether (ETH) last week following a recent pullback, which pushed the token below $2,200 and created an “attractive opportunity.” Ether does in circulation from $2,025 to $2,147 in the last seven days.
He also reiterated his theory about a pre-crypto-ether supercycle fueled by Wall Street’s interest in tokenization and AI-powered agents.
“We continue to expect a supercycle for cryptocurrencies and Ethereum, driven by the dual drivers of Wall Street tokenization and agentic AI. As such, we continue to steadily acquire ETH, with Bitmine currently holding nearly 5.4 million ETH tokens,” Lee said.
Source: Bitcoin
Bitmine slowed its Ether purchasing pace earlier this month after raking in over 100,000 ETH per week for three consecutive weeks. It is the largest Ether treasury company and has consistently bought cryptocurrencies even during market downturns, following a business model similar to the strategy of Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin treasury company.
Bitmine aims to hold 5% of the circulating Ether supply of 120.7 million tokens. To reach its goal of over 6 million ETH, Bitmine needs approximately 644,596 ETH, which Lee expects will happen later this year.
Ether treasury companies are leaning towards staking
According to the company, Bitmine has staked over $4.7 million in its Ether and expects to generate annual staking revenue of $276 million.
Related: Bitmine’s Tom Lee points to a powerful stock market after considering the company for the Russell 3000
Staking infrastructure provider Everstake said in a report on Tuesday that Ether treasury companies are under pressure to generate revenue from staking and other profit strategies as the appeal of asset-only public companies has waned in favor of cryptocurrency spot funds.
In the broader ecosystem, the amount of staked ether has reached a modern high, with over 39.2 million, or approximately 32.19% of the supply, locked and another 3.3 million in the pipeline. According to to the Ethereum validator queue. At the same time, there are approximately 234,368 Ethers in the output queue waiting to leave.
Currently, over 39.2 million Ethers have been staked. Source: Queue for Ethereum validator
Ether hit an all-time high of $4,946 in August 2025, but has since fallen more than 58%. Lee earlier he argued that steep declines in Ether could present a buying opportunity.
Warehouse: Polymarket courts Japanese entry, Harvard abandons entire ETH position: Hodler’s Digest, May 17–23
