---
title: "Bitmine Purchases $20M in Ethereum to Near 5% Supply Target"
description: "The company added 9,587 ETH to reach 6.07 million tokens, citing Vitalik Buterin's store-of-value thesis."
url: https://basisdesk.news/news/bitmine-buys-20m-eth-nears-five-percent-supply
published: 2026-11-09T17:21:20.305Z
modified: 2026-11-09T17:21:20.305Z
section: Institutions & ETFs
author: Basis Desk Newsroom (AI-generated, source-verified)
sentiment: bullish
tickers: [ETH, BTC]
tags: [corporate-treasury, ethereum, staking, vitalik-buterin, tom-lee]
license: Quote with attribution to Basis Desk (basisdesk.news). Not financial advice.
---

# Bitmine Purchases $20M in Ethereum to Near 5% Supply Target

The company added 9,587 ETH to reach 6.07 million tokens, citing Vitalik Buterin's store-of-value thesis.

## At a glance

- **What happened:** Bitmine Immersion Technologies bought 9,587 ETH for roughly $20 million, bringing its balance sheet to 6,070,092 ETH.
- **Why it matters:** Bitmine now holds 4.97% of the entire circulating Ethereum supply, leaving it marginally short of its corporate 5% ownership goal.
- **Who is affected:** Bitmine Immersion Technologies, Ethereum network validators, and corporate crypto treasury peers.
- **What's next:** Bitmine continues its weekly purchase schedule to reach the remaining allocation required for its 5% threshold.
- **Status:** announced
- **Primary source:** [Tom Lee’s Bitmine Adds $20M in Ethereum, Seizing on Vitalik’s 'ETH Is Money' Declaration](https://decrypt.co/382854/tom-lee-bitmine-adds-20m-ethereum-vitalik-eth-money) — decrypt.co

## Key points

- Bitmine bought 9,587 ETH for approximately $20 million, bringing total holdings to 6,070,092 ETH.
- The treasury controls 4.97% of Ethereum's supply, nearing its 5% accumulation target.
- The company has 5,227,037 ETH staked on its MAVAN platform, generating an estimated $359 million in annualized revenue.

## Editorial remark

- **Context:** Bitmine launched its systematic weekly Ethereum accumulation plan on June 30, 2025, deploying capital to reach a targeted 5% share of total circulating supply.
- **Impact:** The firm controls nearly one-twentieth of all circulating ETH, with 86% deposited into staking validators, consolidating a substantial share of proof-of-stake governance power.
- **Watch:** Bitmine requires roughly 40,000 additional ETH to formally cross its 5% token supply target.

Bitmine Immersion Technologies acquired an additional 9,587 $ETH valued at roughly $20 million, expanding its corporate treasury to 6,070,092 ETH [1]. The NYSE-listed firm confirmed on Nov. 9 that its balance sheet now controls approximately 4.97% of Ethereum's 122.2 million token circulating supply, placing the company 99% toward its stated objective of controlling 5% of the network under its "Alchemy of 5%" framework [1].

Chairman Tom Lee attributed the sustained purchases to comments made by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin during the Devcon conference in Mumbai [1]. At the event, Buterin stated, "I’ve finally made up my mind, ETH is a store of value, ETH is money," later posting on X that fee-burning mechanisms are weaker drivers than previously perceived and can conflict with network decentralization [1]. Lee characterized Buterin's remarks as a structural validation of ETH acting as collateral rather than a pure cash-flow asset amid institutional tokenization [1]. The transaction continues a continuous weekly buying streak launched on June 30, 2025 [1].

## Treasury Holdings and Staking Operations

Including token holdings, cash, and outside investments, Bitmine's total asset base reached $14.3 billion as of Nov. 8 [1]. Its broader portfolio contains 216 $BTC, $475 million in cash and marketable securities, a $180 million stake in Beast Industries, and a $75 million holding in Eightco Holdings [1]. Bitmine operates the largest corporate Ethereum treasury globally and stands as the second-largest corporate crypto treasury behind Strategy, which maintains approximately 849,327 BTC [1].

The company also [expands its Ethereum holdings](https://basisdesk.news/news/bitmine-eth-treasury-6-million-staking) by operating validator infrastructure, staking 5,227,037 ETH—roughly 86% of its reserve—through its proprietary MAVAN platform [1]. That staked reserve generates an estimated annualized staking revenue of approximately $359 million [1]. At the time of writing, ETH traded at $2,129.

## Sources

1. [Tom Lee’s Bitmine Adds $20M in Ethereum, Seizing on Vitalik’s 'ETH Is Money' Declaration](https://decrypt.co/382854/tom-lee-bitmine-adds-20m-ethereum-vitalik-eth-money) — decrypt.co, 2026-11-09

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Basis Desk Newsroom · AI-generated, source-verified · https://basisdesk.news/about/how-we-use-ai