BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR), the largest Ethereum-focused treasury firm, continued its weekly ether buying streak even as a sharp cryptocurrency sell-off deepened its unrealized losses and sent its shares to new 7-month lows.
The firm said in an update on Monday that it bought 41,788 ETH last week, its biggest weekly haul of tokens so far this year, worth around $96 million at current prices. The purchase brought BitMine’s total ETH holdings to 4,285,125 tokens, or about 3.55% of Ethereum’s circulating supply, according to a company update published Monday. The company also owns 193 bitcoins. $586 million in cash, a $200 million stake in Beast Industries, and a $20 million stake in Eightco Holdings.
Ether fell to around $2,300 over the weekend, bringing the company’s total cryptocurrency, cash and stock holdings down to $10.7 billion. By Monday morning in US trading, the price had recovered modestly to $2,360. BMNR shares fell 5%>
With the sharp drop in cryptocurrency prices last week, the company is estimated to have approximately $6 billion in unrealized losses on its position.
Chairman Thomas Lee said ether’s price weakness contrasts with growing activity on the Ethereum blockchain, noting that daily transactions and active addresses recently hit record highs.
“During the crypto winter of 2021-2022 or 2018-2019, Ethereum transaction activity and active wallets declined, which goes against what we have seen over the past 12 months,” Lee said.
He argued that the lingering effects of the October cryptocurrency crash and the recent rise in precious metals prices have weighed on the market, sucking liquidity from the crypto economy.
BitMine has also increased staking, bringing its total staked ETH to nearly 2.9 million tokens, or about two-thirds of its holdings, generating an estimated $188 million in annualized staking revenue.
