Bitmine Goes Light on ETH, Heavy on Its Own Stock 🪞

Bitmine Immersion Technologies added just 7,430 ETH, roughly $14 million, to its treasury this week, sharply slowing a buying streak that once saw the firm scoop up more than 111,000 ETH in a single week back in May. Chairman Tom Lee attributed the pullback to a share repurchase, disclosing that the company bought back approximately 5.5 million common shares at an average price of $15.62 under its existing $4 billion buyback authorization. "The reduced pace of buys reflects that Bitmine repurchased 5.5 million common shares," Lee said, adding that the firm has purchased ETH every week since launching its Ethereum treasury strategy in June 2025.

The incremental haul lifts Bitmine's cumulative holdings to about 5.78 million ETH tokens, equivalent to nearly 4.8% of Ethereum's circulating supply and worth roughly $11 billion at current prices. That positions BMNR, which traded at $16.61, up almost 6% on the day, as the largest corporate holder of ETH and the second-largest digital asset treasury behind Michael Saylor's Strategy, which holds approximately $54 billion in Bitcoin. Bitmine said it has staked 4.92 million ETH, about 85% of its holdings, on its MAVAN validator platform for projected annualized revenue near $247 million, while also reporting 207 Bitcoin, $385 million in cash and securities, an $180 million stake in Beast Industries and a $58 million position in Eightco Holdings.

Strategy, meanwhile, continued adding to its war chest without touching its Bitcoin stack. According to the company's latest SEC filing, the Bitcoin treasury firm sold 2,732,318 shares of its MSTR common stock between July 13 and July 19, netting $263.5 million through its at-the-market offering program. Strategy separately added $225 million to its cash reserves last week and, the week prior, raised $466.7 million through the same share-sale mechanism.

Separately, European Central Bank executive board member Piero Cipollone used a banking conference in Rome on Friday to frame the digital euro as a structural response to stablecoins, which he warned could siphon deposits from traditional lenders. "Even traditional debit cards," he said, suggesting retail payment rails are increasingly contestable. Cipollone positioned the digital euro as the central bank's planned defense against further erosion of bank funding bases by mobile apps, digital payment platforms and stablecoin issuers.