BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR), chaired by Tom Lee, said Monday it now controls more than 2% of ether’s supply and raised $365 million to expand its holdings.
The company announced this morning that its treasury, valued at $11.4 billion as of Sept. 21, consists of 2,416,054 ETH at $4,497 per token, 192 bitcoin (BTC), $345 million in cash and a $175 million equity stake in Eightco Holdings.
BitMine described itself as the world’s largest public holder of ether and the second-largest crypto treasury overall, trailing only Michael Saylor’s Strategy Inc. (MSTR).
BitMine is chaired by Tom Lee, who is also head of research at Fundstrat and chief investment officer at Fundstrat Capital.
Lee said the company is pursuing what he calls the “alchemy of 5%,” aiming to accumulate 5% of the total ETH supply. “Wall Street and AI moving onto the blockchain should lead to a greater transformation of today’s financial system. And the majority of this is taking place on Ethereum,” Lee said.
Raising funds to grow the treasury
A few hours later, BitMine announced a securities purchase agreement with an institutional investor covering 5.2 million shares of common stock at $70 per share — about 14% above its Sept. 19 close — along with warrants for up to 10.4 million additional shares at $87.50.
The offering is expected to raise $365 million in gross proceeds, with the warrants potentially adding another $913 million, bringing total potential proceeds to about $1.28 billion.
Lee said the primary use of funds would be to expand BitMine’s ether holdings, calling the premium pricing “materially accretive” to existing shareholders.
BitMine added that institutional demand reflected growing interest in ethereum as Wall Street integrates blockchain into financial infrastructure.
As of 11:13 a.m. ET, BMNR shares were trading around $55.79, down 9% on the day, according to Google Finance.