What's Next for Bitmine after 5% of ETH? | Chairman Tom Lee

Bitmine is close to its goal of acquiring 5% of ETH supply: Tom Lee said it holds about 5.82 million ETH, or roughly 4.9% of supply and 97% of the target, after buying for more than 60 consecutive weeks. He estimated that about $350 million of purchases would complete the goal, possibly by year-end or sooner. He also described the remaining amount as 200,000 ETH; at an estimated 120,000 ETH in annual staking rewards, that would leave about 80,000 ETH, or $160 million, to fund. The target is a multi-year commitment, not a promise of weekly stock gains, and Bitmine slowed purchases in consultation with the Ethereum Foundation to avoid appearing centralizing.

Lee said the company has financed its strategy with equity rather than debt or convertible instruments, issuing common shares sparingly when they trade above net asset value. Its BM&P perpetual preferred carries a 9.5% yield and weekly dividends; the June offering was more than five times oversubscribed and priced at 80% of par. Lee estimated annual preferred dividends at $30–35 million, versus close to $300 million in staking rewards at the current ETH price. If preferred shares funded the remaining target, he estimated about $150 million in additional issuance and said he did not expect billions of BM&P issuance unless Bitmine pursued a goal well beyond 5%. Over the previous five weeks, the company paired ETH purchases with stock buybacks according to its assessment of their relative future returns.

Bitmine has staked a little over 5 million ETH, leaving about 800,000 unstaked, and Lee said current staking rewards cover preferred dividends. The company is not converting those rewards into dollars or USDC and has no financial need to sell ETH, though it may explore productive uses for unstaked holdings. Lee said it is more likely to monetize holdings than sell ETH, but could sell rewards if it reaches 5% and decides not to go further. The company may reassess its purchase pace in September, partly because the Clarity Act could delay developments investors expect; Lee stressed that he does not consider the act entirely negative for crypto.

Lee described Bitmine as evolving from an ETH buyer into an Ethereum ecosystem company with cash flow. Its Made in America Validator Network, Maven, has won external staking mandates and handles more than $2 billion in crypto not owned by Bitmine. The company is also funding ETH Labs, ETH Systems, and ETH Institutional, entities spun out of the Ethereum Foundation, to support Ethereum and develop opportunities with financial institutions and crypto companies. Lee said the ecosystem has grown too large for the Foundation to manage every effort centrally; whether Bitmine takes a sustained, active stewardship role remains undecided. Bitmine could reconsider owning more than 5% in 2027 if enterprises increasingly hold ETH, while aiming to help Ethereum remain important in a future that Lee expects to be multi-chain.

Lee expects tokenization and AI-related activity to be major forces in the next crypto cycle. Stablecoins could be a 2025 catalyst, while tokenization of assets such as stocks and bonds is a larger opportunity that requires secure settlement. He cited serious enterprise work on both Ethereum and Solana and said tokenization will not necessarily accrue exclusively to Ethereum. AI systems could also increase demand for blockchain settlement as machine-to-machine activity expands to include transactions, instructions, and taxation. If AI’s addressable market grows from $10 trillion toward $100 trillion, Lee questioned whether crypto could remain at $1.5 trillion and suggested it could approach AI’s scale. He cautioned, however, that layer ones might capture less value than expected if institutions need only enough ETH to pay gas rather than accumulate it.

Lee estimated that macro factors account for about 90% of crypto performance and narrative differentiation the remaining 10%, and predicted crypto winter would end in less than 10 weeks. He said Bitcoin may have made a local low and estimated the market was about 95% through bottoming by time and 90% by price, while acknowledging he does not know why crypto cycles occur. He also said ETH could exceed $10,000 in one to two years. At about $15,000 per ETH, he estimated roughly a tenfold return for Bitmine shareholders, or around $180 per share; he characterized $50,000, $100,000, or $200,000 ETH as potentially legendary outcomes. Lee said Bitmine’s stock has outperformed ETH and Bitcoin this year and argued investors may see the company as more durable than crypto assets themselves. He regards ETH primarily as a store of value, comparing Ethereum with the stock market and land, while the interviewer questioned whether ETH is a cash-flowing asset or a store of value.