Bitmine Immersion Technologies has accelerated the pace of its Ether purchases in recent weeks, CEO Tom Lee said on Monday, after the company’s over-the-counter purchase of 5,000 ETH directly from the Ethereum Foundation.
Leeward he said Over the past week, Bitmine has added 60,999 Ether (ETH), compared to the recent weekly average of around 45,000 to 50,000 ETH.
The purchases augment the publicly traded company’s Ethereum treasury to 4.596 million ETH, giving Bitmine control of approximately 3.81% of the token’s total supply. The company said its total cryptocurrency holdings, cash and other investments are approximately $11.5 billion.
Bitmine said it currently has 3,040,515 ETH at stake, or about 66% of its holdings, worth about $6.6 billion at an ether price of $2,185.
The company estimates its staking operations generate approximately $180 million in annual revenue. It plans to expand staking through its Made in America validator network (MAVAN), which is expected to launch in the coming months.
Bitmine said the purchase of 5,000 ETH from the Ethereum Foundation was structured to allow the foundation to fund its operations without selling Ether on the open market.
According to Yahoo Finance, Bitmine (BMNR) shares rose almost 14% to $23.39 at the close of Monday’s session data.
Today’s announcement by the Ethereum treasury company coincided with the disclosure by Strategy, the world’s largest Bitcoin treasury company, that it had purchased 22,337 BTC for $1.57 billion, increasing its total holdings to over 760,000 Bitcoins.
Related: Three Ethereum indicators indicate that the next ETH price target will be 2.8k. dollars
Corporate treasuries control over 5% of the ether supply
Public companies holding Ether have slowed their accumulation significantly over the past month, even as Bitmine continues to expand rapidly.
Data from CoinGecko can be seen that of the 20 largest corporate ether vaults, only four companies have increased their holdings in the last 30 days. Bitmine added 269,824 ETH during this period, well ahead of SharpLink, which added 3,859 ETH, and Eightco, which added 11,068 ETH.
Last week, Eightco also raised $125 million to augment investments in blockchain and artificial intelligence. Bitmine led the round with a $75 million investment, while ARK Invest and Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, each invested $25 million. As part of the deal, Bitmine CEO Lee joined Eightco’s board of directors.
According to CoinGecko, across the market, 30 public entities in seven countries hold a total of approximately 6.6 million ETH worth approximately $15.4 billion, representing approximately 5.47% of the total Ether supply.
At the time of writing, Ether is trading at around $2,342, up almost 11% in the last 24 hours, and down about 21% year-to-date. The cryptocurrency’s market capitalization is currently approximately $282 billion, with approximately 120.7 million ETH in circulation.
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