Bitmine adds 10,452 ETH and resumes share buybacks

Key points

• Bitmine bought 10,452 ETH, bringing holdings to 6,051,933 ETH (4.95% of supply)
• It repurchased 2.04 million shares at an average $22.48, its first buyback since Aug. 17
• Year-to-date buybacks total 22.9 million shares for $399.6 million, per The Block
• About 86% of its ETH is staked, with projected annual staking revenue of $318 million

Bitmine Immersion Technologies, the Ethereum treasury company chaired by Tom Lee, bought another 10,452 ETH over the past week and raised its holdings to 6,051,933 ETH, or 4.95% of Ethereum’s circulating supply, according to a company statement reported Monday. In the same week it repurchased 2.04 million of its own shares, its first buyback in about 10 weeks.

The figures were reported by The Block and CoinDesk.

Ether purchases slow as holdings near 5% of supply

CoinDesk reported that the 10,452 ETH purchase was worth about $24.5 million and was smaller than the prior week’s 12,535 ETH. The Block said the company valued its ether at $2,356 per token as of Oct. 25, which put the holdings at roughly $14.3 billion. Ethereum’s circulating supply is about 122.2 million ETH, according to both outlets.

By CoinDesk’s calculation, Bitmine is about 58,000 ETH short of its stated goal of owning 5% of supply.

About 5.23 million ETH, or 86% of holdings, is staked through Bitmine’s MAVAN platform and staking partners, The Block reported. The company projects annualized staking revenue of about $318 million at current levels, and up to $368 million if all holdings were staked.

Bitmine also reported 215 BTC, a $180 million stake in Beast Industries, a $76 million investment in Eightco Holdings and $514 million in cash and marketable securities, according to The Block. The outlet put the combined total of crypto, cash, securities and other investments at about $15 billion.

Buybacks return after a pause

Bitmine repurchased 2.04 million shares at an average price of $22.48, or about $45.9 million, CoinDesk reported. It was the company’s first buyback since Aug. 17, when a five-week program had totaled about 21 million shares for roughly $350 million.

Year to date, Bitmine has bought back 22.9 million shares for $399.6 million, an average of $17.48 per share, The Block reported. CoinDesk said the company intends to keep repurchasing stock when management considers it undervalued.

The Block reported that Bitmine shares (BMNR) closed Friday at $22.40, down 0.4%, and that ether traded near $2,322 on Monday, down 0.4% over 24 hours.

Lee says the market is in a bull phase

Lee attributed the recent weakness in crypto to the same risk-off conditions behind the selloff in artificial intelligence stocks. He noted that ether had fallen 13% from its recent peak, while U.S. semiconductor stocks, measured by the SOXX fund, were down 20% over the same period.

Lee said this was, in CoinDesk’s reporting, “further evidence that a crypto bull market is underway.” CoinDesk noted that crypto’s smaller decline relative to chip stocks does not rule out further losses.

What to watch

Bitmine’s weekly updates show how it splits capital between buying ether and repurchasing its own stock. The company has not changed its 5% supply target, and at the recent pace of purchases it remains roughly 58,000 ETH away. Whether buybacks continue will depend on management’s view of the share price relative to the value of its holdings.