NEW YORK, March 26, 2026, 16:41 EDT.
Bitmine Immersion Technologies slid about 8% to $19.47 late Thursday. The move followed the company’s MAVAN Ethereum staking platform debut on Wednesday, and came after B. Riley bumped its target price on the stock to $33, up from $30.
This is a key step for Bitmine, which wants to convince investors it’s not just tethered to ether’s price swings. Their MAVAN project—short for Made in America VAlidator Network—aims to convert some of Bitmine’s ether stash into a steady stream of staking revenue. In staking, tokens are locked up to support blockchain transaction validation, earning rewards in the process.
B. Riley’s Fedor Shabalin noted the rollout signals Bitmine’s move away from just passive ether management, taking on more active staking infrastructure. Around 67% of Bitmine’s holdings are staked already, according to the firm, which estimates fully deploying assets could bring in about $285 million in annualized rewards. The analyst maintained a Buy on the stock.
The launch was revealed in a March 25 filing. In another statement, Chairman Tom Lee described MAVAN as “a critical step in our vision.” He added the platform will begin with Bitmine’s own treasury, with plans to open access later on to institutions, custodians, and ecosystem partners.
Bitmine reported holding 3,142,643 staked ETH as of March 24, valuing the stash at roughly $6.8 billion. Annual staking rewards, it said, could hit $300 million once the bulk of its remaining unstaked tokens transfer to MAVAN. During the previous week, the company added 101,776 ETH to its staked total.
Earlier this week, the company reported $11.0 billion in total crypto and cash, listing 4.661 million ETH alongside $1.1 billion in cash. Lee noted that Bitmine ramped up its ether buying over the last three weeks, wagering that the “mini-crypto winter” was nearly over.
BMNR stuck with the pack on Thursday. Ether slid over 4%, Coinbase dropped roughly 4%, and Cipher Digital tumbled close to 10%. Bitmine, meanwhile, kept pitching staking as a way to stabilize income.
Still, there are clear risks. Bitmine’s reward projections hinge on ramping up its ether allocation to MAVAN, while maintaining both yields and demand from clients. If ether prices sink further, institutional adoption stalls, or operations hit a snag, those targets could slip out of reach.
Bitmine continues to brand itself as a U.S.-based bitcoin miner, while it’s been moving surplus cash into an ether treasury and staking arm. But Thursday’s slump signaled that shareholders remain unconvinced the revamped strategy can handle a crypto downturn.
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