BitMine’s ETH Buy Boosts Holdings as Tom Lee Links Demand to Wartime Trade

BitMine (Immersion Technologies), led by Tom Lee, bought 71,179 ETH in what it calls its largest weekly purchase of the year. The deal is valued at roughly $143–146 million and lifts BitMine’s total Ethereum (ETH) holdings to about 4.73 million ETH, pushing ownership to 3.92% of the token supply—around 78% of its 5% target reached in just eight months. Tom Lee frames the move as “wartime” behavior during geopolitical stress. He says ETH is outperforming equities by about 1,160 basis points, while gold is down more than 750 bps over the same period. Over the past month, ETH is up ~8% versus gold down ~13%. He also points to an increasingly inverse correlation between crypto (and equities) and oil, arguing that a “crypto winter” could be near its end if oil upside risk peaks. Financially, BitMine reports total crypto and cash of about $10.7B, including 197 BTC and $961M in cash, plus an equity stake investment of about $102M in Eightco Holdings. The key trading takeaway for ETH is continued corporate accumulation even while other major treasuries have paused or sold during the downturn. At the broader market level, the news backdrop remains risk-off: other crypto products have seen reported outflows (e.g., BTC ETF outflows cited in the earlier summary), and both BTC/ETH still sit below prior highs—so ETH may be relatively supported, but macro sentiment can still cap upside.