Bitmine stakes $390M more ETH, treasury nears 5% of ETH
Tom Lee’s Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) has staked another 159,728 ETH worth about $390.6 million, lifting its Ethereum treasury to roughly 6.04 million ETH, close to 4.9% of the token’s entire supply, on-chain tracking by Lookonchain showed on October 21, 2026.
The new stake brings Bitmine’s total staked ETH to about 5.23 million coins, roughly $12.78 billion at October 21 prices, or 86.5% of everything the company holds. Lookonchain’s on-chain labeling is the source for the staking figures; the firm itself has not posted the numbers.
“Tom Lee(@fundstrat)’s #Bitmine just staked another 159,728 $ETH($390.6M). In total, #Bitmine has staked 5.23M $ETH($12.78B), 86.5% of its total holdings,” the analytics account posted on X.
One balance sheet against the visible float
What makes the number matter is where it sits. A single corporate balance sheet now commands close to one in twenty of all ETH in existence, and 86.5% of that pile, about 5.23 million coins, is staked rather than listed for sale. That pile sits against exchange reserves that this year hit decade lows while Bitmine kept buying, and it changes who a buyer has to deal with: a growing share of Ethereum’s tradable supply now clears through one NYSE-listed treasury rather than an order book.
The company, which uplisted to the NYSE in April 2026 alongside a $4 billion share buyback authorization, has bought ETH every week toward a stated goal of owning 5% of total supply, including through the stretch in January and February when the same strategy was reported underwater by $6 billion to $8 billion as ETH broke below $2,000. The buys have continued into a market where ETH traded around $2,450 on October 21, up about 2.8% on the day after several weeks of volatility.
Confidence trade, not a price call
Crypto Briefing reads the accumulation as a signal of institutional confidence in Ethereum despite the price weakness, the opposite trade from the ETF outflows that dominated this month’s flow picture. It is a concentration bet on ETH’s long-term supply, not a view on next week’s candle, and one where the reading cuts both ways: the same Treasury that racks up yield on 86.5% of its coins would have to unstake into a thinner market if the strategy is ever unwound.
Traders are watching whether ETH can clear $2,600. Bitmine, for its part, is 0.1 percentage point from its target.
