Bitmine’s Tom Lee Dismisses ETH Treasury Losses, Demands: Why Aren’t ETFs Under the Same Microscope?

Bitmine Chair Tom Lee just threw a spotlight on a glaring double standard in crypto regulation. While Ethereum treasury losses make headlines, he questions why traditional ETFs skate by with far less scrutiny.

The Selective Scrutiny Problem

Lee's argument cuts to the core of regulatory bias. Crypto projects face relentless dissection over treasury management and asset volatility. Meanwhile, mainstream financial products—including the new wave of crypto ETFs—often bypass that same intense, daily forensic analysis. It's a classic case of old-guard finance getting the kid-glove treatment while innovators face the firing squad.

A Call for Regulatory Parity

The push isn't for less oversight on crypto. It's for more consistent rules across the board. If an Ethereum treasury drawdown warrants a market panic, why doesn't a traditional ETF's fee structure or underlying asset risk trigger the same alarm bells? Lee frames it as a fundamental question of fairness in a converging financial landscape.

The Bottom Line: Same Risk, Same Rules

Tom Lee shrugs off the short-term noise around ETH holdings. His real target is the entrenched system that polices new technology with a magnifying glass while giving legacy instruments a polite nod. Until the scrutiny matches the actual risk—not just the asset class—the playing field remains tilted. After all, nothing unites Wall Street and crypto like a good old-fashioned hypocrisy blind spot.

Lee Defends ETH Treasury As Long-Term Tracking Strategy

In response, Lee said the company’s goal is to track Ether’s price closely and aim to outperform over time through its approach, rather than trying to smooth out drawdowns.

These tweets miss the point of an Ethereum treasury:
– BitMine is designed to track the price of $ETH
– outperform over the cycle (think up ETH)
– crypto is in a downturn, so naturally ETH is down$BMNR will see “unrealized” losses on our holdings of ETH during these times:
-… https://t.co/VpoNjAnJdC

He said unrealized losses show up naturally during broad crypto pullbacks, and he questioned why critics treat that as uniquely problematic when index products also swing lower during market declines.

Ether has slid sharply in the latest leg of the downturn, and Bitmine’s growing treasury has amplified the mark-to-market moves that come with a concentrated position.

Bitmine itself has framed the strategy as a long-duration bet on Ethereum’s role in finance and capital markets, pairing accumulation with staking infrastructure.

Bitmine’s ETH Holdings Climb To 4.24M As Paper Losses Pass $6B

In a recent company release, Bitmine said it held 4.24M ETH as of Jan. 25 and said it acquired 40,302 ETH over the prior week. Meanwhile, unrealized losses topped $6B.

The same statement pointed to a shifting political and institutional backdrop. It quoted President Donald Trump saying that Congress is working on crypto market structure legislation that he hopes to sign soon, and it positioned tokenization as a theme gaining traction among large financial players.

Lee has also tied the sell-off to market structure stress, pointing to the aftershocks of a record $19B liquidation event in October and to the way flows into metals can drain risk appetite from crypto during fragile periods.

The episode has reopened a wider debate around corporate-style crypto treasuries, especially those using Ether rather than Bitcoin.

Lee appears to be treating the recent drawdown as part of the cycle, not proof that the strategy is broken, and he has kept his longer-term pitch intact that Ethereum sits at the centre of where finance is heading.