Bitmine stacks $74M of $ETH while Strategy offloads $BTC to pay the dividend bill 🧱

Bitmine Immersion Technologies said Monday it added $74 million worth of Ether ($ETH), bringing its total holdings to 5,742,237 $ETH as of Sunday, an increase of 42,197 $ETH from the previous week. The buys were reported when $ETH was valued at about $1,759, and the token has since risen to $1,792 at the time of publication. The latest purchase pushes Bitmine's stack to roughly 4.8% of $ETH's total supply of about 121 million tokens.

The accumulation contrasts with Strategy, a major Bitcoin ($BTC) holder, which on Monday reported selling $216 million worth of $BTC to fund its dividend payments. The sale reduced Strategy's total holdings to 843,775 $BTC.

Bitmine chair Tom Lee cited optimism over the potential passage of the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act in the U.S. as an "important milestone" that could allow "smart contract platforms like ethereum to benefit," adding: "[T]he rise in the $ETH/$BTC ratio in the past few days make sense as markets start to see greater chances of Clarity Act passage." Prediction market traders on Polymarket currently price about a 48% chance of the bill's passage by year end.

The CLARITY Act, under consideration in the U.S. Senate, is expected to be one of the most significant pieces of legislation affecting the crypto industry, giving the Commodity Futures Trading Commission more authority in regulating and overseeing digital assets. Republican lawmakers are pushing for a vote once the chamber returns from its state work period next week, though it remains unclear whether enough Democrats will sign onto the legislation without clear ethics provisions. The bill will need 60 votes to pass in the Senate, where Republicans hold a slim majority.