In brief
- Bitmine chairman Tom Lee said at Token2049 the company will stop buying Ethereum once it holds 5% of circulating supply.
- Bitmine holds 6,016,414 ETH (about 4.9% of supply) and has bought weekly since June 2025, providing steady demand whose end removes a persistent buyer.
- The firm sits on roughly $4.5 billion in unrealized losses, having accumulated much of its stash at higher bull-market prices.
Bitmine Immersion Technologies is about to take its foot off the gas. Chairman Tom Lee said the company will halt its Ethereum buying once its holdings reach 5% of the token's circulating supply, drawing a hard line under one of the market's steadiest sources of demand.
Speaking Wednesday at the Token2049 conference in Singapore, Lee said the company is roughly 100,000 ETH away from the threshold. At last week's pace, that's about six to seven more weeks of accumulation before Bitmine stops.
"We thought this would take five years," Lee said on stage. "It took us a little over a year. More importantly, we did this all in the middle of a bear market,” he said. “Now we’re going to stop.”
The NYSE-listed firm is the world's largest Ethereum treasury company, holding 6,016,414 ETH, or about 4.9% of supply, as of its latest disclosure. Bitmine added roughly $41 million in ETH just last week as it closed in on the goal it brands the "Alchemy of 5%." (Disclosure: Tom Lee is one of several investors in Dastan, Decrypt’s parent company.)
🚨BREAKING: Tom Lee says BitMine will "STOP" buying ETH at 5% "hard cap."
"We only need to get another 100,000 ETH to get to 5%," Lee said on stage at Token2049.
Lee called 5% BitMine’s “hard cap,” saying it optimizes shareholder value. pic.twitter.com/mm0WYnv4Z0
— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) October 7, 2026
The company has bought Ethereum every week since launching its treasury strategy in June 2025, providing a reliable bid that helped underpin the token through a choppy stretch.
That makes the coming stop notable for the broader market. Bitmine's weekly purchases have been a persistent source of demand, and their end removes a buyer that has absorbed a steady stream of ETH for more than a year.
Lee has previously signaled the company could even sell Ethereum earned through staking to keep its share of supply from drifting above the 5% cap.
→The milestone arrives with Bitmine deep underwater on paper. Because much of its accumulation happened last year at higher prices during the bull market, the firm's ETH holdings carry roughly $4.5 billion in unrealized losses, according to tracking data, with Ethereum trading near $2,570 on Wednesday.
Ethereum is down 5.5% today, outpacing losses across most major crypto assets, dropping sharply during Asia trading hours, coinciding with Lee’s remarks.
Still, Lee framed the achievement as a point of pride, having compressed a five-year plan into just over a year. Once the 5% ceiling is reached, Bitmine's defining buying spree, and the market demand it generated, will come to a close.