BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR), the Ethereum-centric crypto-tax company led by Fundstrat’s Thomas Lee, said Monday it acquired 96,798 in ether through last week continues its buying spree, while the digital asset treasury remains under pressure due to falling crypto prices.
The latest purchase lifted the firm’s total ETH holdings to 3.73 million tokens, worth about $10.5 billion at recent prices, extending its lead as the largest Ethereum tax company. The firm also has 192 bitcoin a $36 million stake in Eightco Holdings (ORBS) and $882 million in cash.
BitMine’s shares fell 7.7% pre-market as ETH fell 6% overnight to just above $2,800.
Digital asset treasuries, or DATs, are feeling the heat as falling crypto prices and sliding stock valuations have pushed many into retreat. Most have stopped adding to their crypto piles, while some have even started selling with the aim of closing the gap between their share price and net asset value.
BitMine remained one of the few firms that kept buying. However, the firm is estimated to be sitting on nearly $4 billion in unrealized losses on its ETH stock.
Upcoming Ethereum Upgrade, Fed Policy
Thomas Lee, BitMine’s pointed to market conditions and Ethereum’s upcoming network upgrade as key motivators to increase the pace of acquisitions from the previous week. The Fusaka upgrade, expected to be activated on December 3rd, is designed to improve scalability, security and ease of use on the Ethereum network.
Speaking of the macro context, Lee said the Federal Reserve is expected to halt quantitative easing (QT) this month and is likely to cut interest rates at the December meeting, while crypto markets stabilized since the October 10 crash.
“Collectively, we see these acting as positive tailwinds for ETH prices, which is why we increased our weekly purchases of ETH by 39%,” he said in a statement.
