Bitmine Immersion Technologies has officially announced that it will cap its Ether holdings at precisely 5% of the cryptocurrency’s total circulating supply, bringing an end to its aggressive accumulation phase.
Speaking during a high-profile keynote address at the Token2049 conference in Singapore on Wednesday, Bitmine Chairman Tom Lee revealed that the company is currently on the verge of hitting that threshold. According to Lee, Bitmine has successfully accumulated roughly 6 million Ether, which translates to approximately 4.9% of the asset’s overall supply. To reach its finalized target, the corporate treasury only needs to acquire an estimated 100,000 additional ETH.
"That’s a hard cap. We’re not gonna be accumulating past 5%," Lee told the audience during his address. "We’re not gonna own more than 5% of Ethereum."
The definitive stance marks a notable shift from earlier statements made by leadership. Lee had previously left open the possibility that Bitmine might look into expanding its holdings beyond the 5% mark, depending heavily on the broader global adoption of the Ethereum network. During an interview with the crypto media outlet Bankless in August, the chairman hinted that the organization might revisit the prospect of further accumulation by the year 2027. However, the latest disclosures from Singapore firmly establish that the firm has drawn a hard boundary for its current corporate strategy.
Bitmine says it is “done stacking” Ether
Reflecting on the timeline of the company’s treasury strategy, Lee noted that the vast majority of Bitmine’s massive Ether stockpile was amassed during a prolonged crypto bear market. By leaning into the downturn, the firm was able to methodically build its historic position while digital asset prices remained severely depressed.
"We did all this buying in a bear market," Lee explained. "We protected the downside for ETH because we were buying. But now, we’re done stacking in front of a 25X move."
The chairman explicitly linked the newly established 5% hard cap to Bitmine’s broader financial and capital allocation strategy. By putting an immediate halt to its open-market Ether purchases, the company effectively removes the necessity to continuously tap capital markets to finance new crypto acquisitions. This structural pivot, Lee argued, positions the firm advantageously for market observers and investors alike.
"So if we have a 5% hard cap, that means we’re gonna outperform ETH on the way up, right? ‘Cause you don’t have to worry about us trying to raise capital. We’re done," Lee stated.
Historically, Bitmine has frequently turned to various capital market instruments to aggressively fund the expansion of its massive Ether treasury. In June, the enterprise rolled out a $300 million perpetual preferred stock offering, capturing attention across the traditional finance and cryptocurrency sectors. By early August, the firm had already repurchased 16.1 million common shares as part of an expansive $4 billion share buyback program.
Even though open-market purchases of Ether are coming to a close, Bitmine’s overall digital asset exposure will continue to interact with the broader ecosystem, particularly through network staking. The company has previously projected substantial financial returns from its treasury activities, including estimates of $334 million in annual staking revenue derived from its $15.8 billion crypto balance sheet.
Because staking yields regular rewards in the form of newly generated Ether, the company’s absolute token count could naturally tend to drift upward over time. To prevent this organic growth from pushing its overall share of the circulating supply past the strict 5% limit, Lee has previously indicated that Bitmine may actively sell off a portion of the ETH earned through network staking.
