New York, May 28, 2026, 10:05 AM EDT
- Bitmine dropped roughly 4.6% Thursday morning after ether moved back below $2,000.
- The company reported holding 5.39 million ETH and $12.3 billion in crypto, cash, and other investments as of May 25.
- Bitmine is on FTSE Russell’s preliminary Russell 3000 additions list. The indexes rebalance after the close on June 26.
Bitmine Immersion Technologies shares slid at the open in New York on Thursday. The move followed an update from the company on its ether holdings, with the token sinking and putting pressure on the stock.
Bitmine is now seen by investors as more than a bitcoin miner—it’s also being used as a proxy for Ethereum. Traders are matching BMNR moves to ether prices and staking revenue, and eyeing how index flows could shift if FTSE Russell updates its U.S. benchmarks in June.
The stock slipped 4.6% to $17.96. It started at $18.33 and fell to $17.88 before regaining some ground. Ether was last seen at about $1,978, off 4.2%, after dropping below $2,000 for the first time since March, per CoinDesk and market data.
Bitmine listed its holdings in a May 26 filing, saying that as of May 25 it had 5,390,404 ETH, 203 bitcoin, $444 million cash, a $200 million stake in Beast Industries, and $95 million in Eightco Holdings. The company put the value of its crypto, cash and what it calls “moonshot” investments at $12.3 billion.
Thomas “Tom” Lee, chairman at Bitmine, said the firm is still looking for a “supercycle ahead” in crypto and Ethereum. Bitmine bought 111,942 ETH in the past week, Lee said, describing the ether slide as a “recent pullback” and “attractive opportunity.”
The company is relying more on staking. That’s where holders lock up their tokens to run the Ethereum network and get rewards. Bitmine reported 4,712,917 ETH staked as of May 25. Lee put “annualized staking revenues” at $276 million.
Ether fell as selling picked up. Markus Thielen, who runs 10x Research, told CoinDesk that investors were turning away from ETH as bond yields climbed, which hit demand for staking. “The only buyer has been Bitmine,” Thielen said. CoinDesk
Index moves are also in play. FTSE Russell included Bitmine in its May 22 preliminary Russell 3000 additions file, according to LSEG. The preliminary file will be updated May 29, June 5, June 12 and June 18. The new index lineup takes effect after the U.S. close on June 26. Passive funds usually shift holdings to track the rebalanced indexes.
Peers traded lower. Strategy, the bitcoin-treasury firm once called MicroStrategy, slid roughly 6%. SharpLink, another crypto-treasury name with exposure to ether, was down close to 5%. Reuters said last year that SharpLink and other small-caps took on ether in their treasuries, copying Strategy’s bitcoin tilt.
The risk sticks out: if ether falls more, Bitmine could see both its asset base and demand for its shares drop. Bitmine pointed out risks in its own filings, naming digital-asset swings, funding needs, regulatory shifts and equity market moves as factors that may drive future results away from its projections.
BMNR isn’t moving like a normal mining stock at the moment. It’s behaving more like a leveraged ether play that happens to have the Russell index factor in the mix. Next up: whether ether stays under $2,000, then Friday’s Russell index update.
