Bitmine Makes Historic Move: Acquires 4.3 Million ETH in $8.7 Billion Power Play
Bitmine just dropped a bomb on the crypto markets—and traditional finance is scrambling to make sense of it.
The Whale Moves In
Forget dipping a toe. The mining giant went all-in, securing a staggering 4.3 million Ethereum tokens. At current valuations, that stack is worth a cool $8.7 billion. This isn't a speculative trade; it's a strategic land grab for one of the ecosystem's foundational assets.
Why This Isn't Just Another Buy
The scale is unprecedented for a publicly-traded entity. It signals a seismic shift in institutional strategy—from passive holding to active, dominant accumulation. They're not just betting on price; they're acquiring a core piece of the future financial stack's infrastructure. It makes your average hedge fund's treasury diversification look like pocket change.
The Ripple Effect
Liquidity just got a lot tighter. A chunk of the available ETH supply is now locked in a corporate vault, potentially supercharging volatility for everyone else. Validator queues? Expect them to get longer. This single move reshapes the supply dynamics for the entire network.
The Bottom Line
Bitmine isn't playing the market; it's trying to own a part of it. While Wall Street analysts furiously update their models to account for 'digital asset exposure'—a phrase that still baffles most of them—the real players are building the ledger the next economy will run on. Sometimes, the biggest signal isn't a tweet, but a transaction that shakes the foundation.
Bitmine buys more ETH amid dropping prices
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BitMine provided its latest holdings update for February 9th, 2026:
$10.7 billion in total crypto + "moonshots":
– 4,325,738 ETH at $2,125 (@coinbase)
– 193 bitcoin (BTC)
– $200 million stake in Beast Industries @MrBeast
– $19 million stake in Eightco Holdings (NASDAQ:… pic.twitter.com/MR6hWu8lio
— Bitmine (NYSE-BMNR) $ETH (@BitMNR) February 9, 2026
Bitmine’s initiative comes as Ethereum’s price bounced back above the $2,000 level on Friday, currently trading around $2,055. ETH has dropped more than 2.7% in the last 24 hours and nearly 13.5% over the last 7 days.
Tom Lee, Executive Chairman of Bitmine, noted that ETH prices dropped more than 62% from their 2025 highs. On-chain data revealed that ethereum daily transactions hit an all-time high of 2.5mm, while active addresses surged this year to an ATH of 1 million daily.
In the past week, we acquired 40,613 ETH. Bitmine has been steadily buying Ethereum, as we view this pullback as attractive, given the strengthening fundamentals. In our view, the price of ETH is not reflective of the high utility of ETH and its role as the future of finance.”
–Tom Lee, CEO of Bitmine Immersion Technologies.
Lee also stated that crypto prices are highly volatile, with ETH falling by more than 50% or more from a recent high for the eighth time since 2018. He argued that similar crypto declines occur annually, noting that ETH dropped by 64% from January to March last year but then ROSE from $1,600 to $5,000 a few months later.
Lee also confirmed that ETH formed V-shaped recoveries from major lows in each of the 8 prior declines of 50% or more. He also expects a similar recovery in 2026. He also argued that post-declines present the best investment opportunities in the crypto industry.
Does Bitmine’s ETH holdings support its staking initiatives?
The digital asset platform has staked more than 2.9 million ETH worth around $6.2 billion at $2,125 per ETH. Lee acknowledged that Bitmine has staked more ETH than other entities globally. He also revealed that the firm’s staking rewards are $374 million annually (using 3.115% CESR) or more than $1 million per day once Bitmine’s ETH is fully staked by MAVAN and its staking partners.
Lee revealed that Bitmine’s annualized staking revenue has surged by more than 7% over the past week to $202 million. He added that the 2.9 million ETH stake is about 67% of the 4.3 million ETH held by the company.
Bitmine’s Composite Ethereum Staking Rate (CESR) is at 3.11%. Lee also confirmed that the firm’s own annualized staking operations yielded 3.3234% over 7 days.
Lee stated that Bitmine continues to make progress on its staking solution, known as The Made in America Validator Network (MAVAN). He argued that it will be the best-in-class solution offering secure staking infrastructure.
The firm plans to deploy its MAVAN staking solution in early this year. Lee disclosed that the firm is currently working with 3 staking providers as it moves towards unveiling MAVAN in 2026.
Bitmine’s latest purchase positions it as the top Ethereum treasury and the second global treasury, behind Strategy. Strategy currently owns 713,502 BTC valued at $51 billion.
The company has 193 Bitcoin on its balance sheet and $595 million in cash. The digital asset treasury firm has also staked $200 million in Beast Industries and $19 million in Eightco Holdings.
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