Bitmine, the Ethereum-focused digital asset treasury company, is nearing the end of an extended buying campaign after Chairman Tom Lee said it will stop accumulating ether once its holdings equal 5% of the cryptocurrency’s circulating supply.
Speaking Wednesday at TOKEN2049 in Singapore, Lee said Bitmine needs about 100,000 more ETH to reach that threshold. The company’s latest update showed holdings of 6,016,414 ETH, equivalent to roughly 4.9% of the 122.1 million ether tokens in circulation.
According to CoinDesk, Bitmine began its ether treasury strategy in June 2025 and has purchased ETH every week since then. The programme has turned the company into the world’s largest Ethereum treasury and made it a notably consistent source of demand for the token. That buying streak is now approaching a defined limit rather than continuing indefinitely.
Bitmine’s accumulation reaches a ceiling
At ether’s Wednesday price of about $2,580, Bitmine’s holdings were worth approximately $15.5 billion. The company said in its latest update that it purchased another $41 million worth of ETH during the previous week.
Lee said the company had originally expected reaching the 5% ownership level to take five years. Instead, Bitmine has come close to the target in a little over a year, including while the cryptocurrency market was in a bear phase, according to his remarks.
The remaining 100,000 ETH would represent about 0.1 percentage point of the circulating supply. If Bitmine continues buying at roughly the pace reported last week, it could take around six to seven weeks to complete that final purchase, although that timing depends on the company maintaining the same accumulation rate.
Bitmine reported $643 million in cash and marketable securities in its Monday update. That amount is more than twice the estimated funds needed to purchase the remaining ETH required for the 5% target at current prices.
Why the buying pause matters for ether
Bitmine’s strategy has created a regular source of purchases in the ether market. Its stated practice of buying every week since June 2025 has made the company’s activity unusually consistent compared with demand that may enter or leave the market more sporadically.
Once the target is reached, that recurring buying would no longer be expected to continue under the policy described by Lee. The end of the accumulation programme does not by itself determine how ether will trade, but it removes a known buyer from the market after the company completes its stated objective.
The timing comes as ether is already facing pressure. The source report said ETH fell 5% over the 24 hours leading into Wednesday and reached its weakest level since Sept. 20. Its decline was nearly twice as large as bitcoin’s during that period, amid broader weakness across cryptocurrencies.
Bitmine’s purchases also took place partly during last year’s crypto bull market, when ETH prices were higher. As a result, the company’s ether holdings are currently showing substantial unrealized losses. Data collected by DropsTab put those losses at $4.5 billion.
An unrealized loss reflects the difference between an asset’s purchase value and its current market value; it does not represent a completed sale. Bitmine’s reported holdings therefore remain in the company’s treasury even though their market value is below the aggregate amount paid, according to the cited data.
Current market picture
Moneyiar market data recorded at 09:04 on Oct. 8, 2026, put Ethereum at $2,562.1555393489. ETH was down 1.83% over 24 hours and 4.62% over seven days.
Other assets tracked by Moneyiar were also lower over both periods:
- Shiba Inu stood at $0.0000054049, down 2.02% over 24 hours and 5.89% over seven days.
- Uniswap was at $7.7870026242, down 3.8% over 24 hours and 13.49% over seven days.
- Pepe was priced at $0.0000040373, down 1.89% over 24 hours and 6.71% over seven days.
These figures show the market picture at the specified Moneyiar data time, while Bitmine’s 5% objective remains tied to its own holdings and the supply figure reported in its latest company update. After the final purchases, the firm’s stated accumulation strategy will have reached its planned limit.
