BitMine Immersion Technologies (NYSE: BMNR) purchased 71,524 ETH over the past week, pushing its total Ethereum holdings to approximately 4.87 million tokens. That is 4.04% of Ethereum's circulating supply, the first time any single corporate entity has crossed the 4% threshold. At ETH's price of $2,193 as of April 13, 2026, the position is worth roughly $10.7 billion.
The purchase follows BitMine's NYSE uplisting on April 9, when the company moved from NYSE American to the main New York Stock Exchange, and its board's approval of a $4 billion share buyback program, expanded from $1 billion.
79% of the Way to 5%
BitMine calls its accumulation strategy the "Alchemy of 5%," a public commitment to acquire 5% of Ethereum's total circulating supply. As of this week, the company is roughly 81% of the way there.
The pace has been relentless. BitMine held 4.37 million ETH in mid-February, 4.53 million by early March, and 4.803 million as of April 6, according to a company press release. The latest 71,524-token purchase, reported by Cointelegraph, brings the total to 4.87 million.
Chairman Tom Lee, the Fundstrat co-founder who became BitMine's public face, has framed the buying as a bet that Ethereum is in "the final stages of the mini crypto winter." ETH is trading at $2,193, up 2.3% over seven days but still down from its late-2024 highs above $4,000.
The Staking Machine
BitMine is not just holding ETH. Through its Mavan staking network, the company has staked approximately 3.33 million of its 4.87 million tokens. At a 2.78% annualized yield, that generates roughly $196 million in staking revenue per year. The company has said that staking all of its holdings would produce approximately $282 million annually.
That staking income is BitMine's answer to the question every treasury-strategy critic asks: how do you service the debt? Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) holds bitcoin that produces no yield. BitMine's ETH generates protocol-level income regardless of price direction. Whether that income is sufficient to justify the scale of the position is a separate question. BMNR stock is down 32% year-to-date, closing at $21.08 on April 10.
A $4 Billion Buyback With a 32% Drawdown
The $4 billion buyback authorization, announced alongside the NYSE uplisting, is among the 10 largest buyback programs announced in 2026, according to Fundstrat. Lee told Blockhead that "there may be a time in the future when Bitmine shares are trading below intrinsic value."
Given the stock's YTD performance, that time may already be here. BitMine's total assets stood at $11.4 billion as of its last disclosure: 4.87 million ETH, $864 million in cash, 198 BTC, and minor positions in Beast Industries and Eightco Holdings. The investor base includes ARK Invest (Cathie Wood), Founders Fund, Pantera, Galaxy Digital, Kraken, and DCG.
The buyback signals that management believes the market is underpricing the company relative to its net asset value. If ETH recovers, the discount narrows. If ETH falls further, the buyback burns cash that could have been used to buy more tokens.
Concentration Risk in Plain Sight
One company controlling 4% of a public blockchain's supply raises questions that go beyond stock valuation. Ethereum's proof-of-stake consensus mechanism gives stakers governance influence proportional to their stake. With 3.33 million ETH staked, BitMine is one of the largest individual staking entities on the network, though its share of total staked ETH (roughly 34 million as of April 2026) sits closer to 10%.
That concentration is not hypothetical risk. If BitMine ever needed to liquidate a meaningful portion of its holdings, whether to service debt, fund the buyback, or respond to a margin call, the sell pressure would be significant. A 1% supply dump at current volumes would take days to absorb without moving the price.
The company's response has been to keep buying. Every week in 2026 has seen a purchase. The trajectory from 3% to 4% took roughly four months. At the current pace, 5% could arrive before summer.
Overview
BitMine Immersion Technologies now holds 4.87 million ETH, 4.04% of Ethereum's circulating supply, after purchasing 71,524 ETH last week. The company uplisted to the NYSE on April 9 and expanded its share buyback program to $4 billion. Its Mavan staking network generates approximately $196 million per year from 3.33 million staked ETH. Chairman Tom Lee has described the accumulation as a bet on the end of the "mini crypto winter," with a stated target of acquiring 5% of all ETH. BMNR stock is down 32% year-to-date.
