BitMine Immersion Technologies is turning its long-standing goal of accumulating 5% of Ether’s total supply into a firm ceiling. Chairman Tom Lee said the company is close to that limit after building a treasury of roughly 6 million ETH, or about 4.9% of the cryptocurrency’s supply. According to Cointelegraph, BitMine needs approximately 100,000 more ETH to reach the threshold.
A target becomes a hard limit
Speaking at Token2049 in Singapore on Wednesday, Lee said BitMine would not acquire more than 5% of Ethereum. The company’s position is therefore approaching the point at which its buying program would stop, rather than continuing as an open-ended accumulation strategy.
Lee had previously indicated that BitMine could consider exceeding 5% if Ethereum adoption justified doing so. In an August interview with Bankless, he said the possibility might be revisited in 2027. His latest comments remove that option for the current strategy by defining 5% as a “hard cap.”
The company’s reported holdings make the remaining distance relatively small: about 6 million ETH represents around 4.9% of the supply, leaving roughly 100,000 ETH before the stated ceiling is reached.
Buying strategy and capital plans
Lee said BitMine accumulated most of its Ether during a crypto bear market, when prices were depressed. He described the company as having completed its buying phase and linked the decision to stop accumulating with its approach to funding.
With no need to continue raising money for additional Ether purchases, BitMine would no longer have to use capital markets to expand the cryptocurrency portion of its treasury. The company has previously relied on such financing to build its position. In June, it launched a $300 million perpetual preferred stock offering. By early August, it had also repurchased 16.1 million common shares through a $4 billion buyback program.
The end of direct purchases would not necessarily prevent the Ether balance from increasing. Staked ETH can generate additional Ether, and Lee previously said BitMine could sell staking rewards if necessary to ensure the company’s share of total supply remained below 5%.
Moneyiar market picture
Moneyiar market data at 10:14 a.m. on October 7, 2026, showed Ethereum at $2,586.2710736706, down 4.71% over 24 hours and 3.86% over seven days.
Other assets in the supplied data were also lower over the past day: NEAR Protocol was $4.9981833705, down 5.05%; Compound was $23.3740441915, down 4.37%. Cap was an exception, trading at $0.0867215981, up 15.15% in 24 hours and 39.58% over seven days. The ETH figures provide the market snapshot at the stated time, while BitMine’s announcement concerns the size and management of its holdings rather than a forecast for Ether’s price.
