BitMine Sets Ether Ownership Cap at 5%

BitMine Immersion Technologies announced that it has set a cap on its Ether holdings at 5% of the total cryptocurrency supply. The company's chairman, Tom Lee, revealed this during a speech at the Token2049 conference in Singapore on Wednesday. According to him, BitMine has accumulated around 6 million Ether, which accounts for approximately 4.9% of the total supply, and to reach its goal, the company needs to gather about 100,000 more ETH.

"This is a hard cap. We will not accumulate more than 5%," Lee said. Previously, he had left open the possibility of increasing the Ether share depending on Ethereum's adoption. In an August interview with Bankless, he mentioned that the company might reconsider this possibility in 2027. Lee noted that BitMine acquired most of its Ether during a period he described as a bear market, which allowed the company to increase its position amid low prices. "We made all these purchases in the bear market," he added. "We protected ETH from falling because we were buying. But now we've finished accumulating, ahead of a 25-fold increase."

The 5% cap is also linked to BitMine's capital strategy. Ceasing accumulation will spare the company from needing to raise additional funds to purchase Ether. "If we have a 5% cap, it means we will outperform ETH in the market, right?" Lee noted. "Because you don't need to worry about us trying to raise capital. We're done." BitMine used capital markets to build its Ether reserve. In June, the company launched a $300 million preferred stock offering. By early August, BitMine repurchased 16.1 million of its common shares as part of a $4 billion buyback program. Even after halting Ether purchases, staking may increase BitMine's reserves. Lee previously reported that the company might sell ETH obtained through staking to prevent its share of the supply from exceeding 5%.