BitMine shares moved higher as the company’s ether stash got closer to its 5% supply goal.
BitMine Immersion Technologies shares jumped roughly 6% late Monday after saying its ether stash is now 5.54 million tokens. Traders moved back in, using the stock as a listed play on Ethereum. BMNR last traded at $16.85, up 94.5 cents. The stock ranged from $16.40 to $17.28. Volume was about 38.4 million shares.
Norwalk, Connecticut-based company reported $9.6 billion in crypto, cash and other holdings as of June 7 at 3 p.m. ET. That includes 5,543,872 ETH, 204 bitcoin, $247 million in cash, $180 million in Beast Industries, and $88 million in Eightco Holdings. Ether, or ETH, is the token on the Ethereum blockchain.
BitMine has shifted from bitcoin mining into a crypto treasury business, putting digital assets on its books as a public company. The firm says it wants to hold 5% of all Ethereum tokens. Its latest numbers show 4.59%, or 92% of the way there.
BitMine chairman and Fundstrat co-founder Thomas “Tom” Lee said the firm stepped up buying in the downturn. “Over the past week, we acquired 126,971 ETH,” Lee said in an SEC filing from the company. Lee said BitMine added more because it viewed the ETH drop as disconnected from Ethereum’s fundamentals.
Ether traded at $1,702.70, gaining $26.33 for the day. The token moved between $1,645.30 and $1,713.15. BitMine’s stock is still closely linked to that volatility, with exposure even as the company increases scale and brings in staking revenue.
Financing conditions matter here too. BitMine on Friday priced its larger deal for 3.5 million shares of its 9.50% Series A Perpetual Preferred Stock at $80 per share. The company expects net proceeds of $273.8 million, with settlement planned for June 10. Preferred shares like these take priority on dividends over common stock, and “perpetual” means there’s no set maturity date. PR Newswire
BitMine said it could spend the money on general corporate needs, like more ETH purchases, staking, validator infrastructure, or working capital. Other plans could include Ethereum investments or buying back common shares. Staking involves locking up tokens to support a blockchain and getting rewards in return.
BitMine had 4,718,677 ETH staked as of June 7, Lee said. That stash was valued at $7.7 billion, with ETH priced at $1,630. “Annualized staking revenues are now projected at $230 million,” Lee said. The company also released a higher figure for projected rewards if it manages to stake its entire ETH holding at scale.
The company is pitching itself as part of the same broad crypto-treasury strategy as Strategy, which used to be MicroStrategy and is known for its large bitcoin reserves. SharpLink and Bit Digital are also in that group of smaller public companies now holding ether. Last year, Reuters reported that more firms like these were relying on public equities to offer investors indirect access to crypto reserves.
But the setup may backfire for shareholders. BitMine’s prospectus says preferred dividends will mostly come from ETH staking yield, Ethereum options, and new capital, but it doesn’t guarantee those will cover payouts. In the filing, BitMine also flagged that a market for the preferred shares might not form, adding that swings in prices or rising rates could push the shares down.
The next thing to watch is if the preferred-stock sale closes on June 10 and if BitMine keeps putting ETH toward that 5% mark. The stock is still drawing trades. Investors seem willing to play the name, but in the end it could be ether, not the headlines, that decides what happens.
