BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR), the largest corporate owner of the second largest cryptocurrency, ether made its biggest ETH purchase of the year last week following a key shareholder vote that gave the company new room to raise capital.
The company said on Monday that it added 40,302 ETH (worth nearly $117 million at current prices) to its treasury, bringing its holdings to more than 4.24 million tokens, or 3.52% of the ether supply.
The company’s cryptocurrency and cash holdings now total $12.8 billion, including 193 bitcoins. $682 million in cash and stakes in Eightco Holdings and his $200 million investment in Beast Industries, the company founded by YouTube creator MrBeast.
The purchases followed shareholder approval of an expansion of the number of authorized BitMine shares, allowing the company to raise additional funds through the issuance of shares. That financial flexibility allowed BitMine to resume more aggressive accumulation after signaling earlier this month that purchases could slow without new authorization.
BitMine said it has also staked more than 2 million ETH (nearly half of its total holdings), turning a significant portion of its treasury into a yield-generating asset. The company’s rapid pace has contributed to congestion on the Ethereum staking network, where the wait time to become a new validator has reached 54 days.
The company expects to generate more than $400 million in annual pre-tax income from its ether holdings, Chairman Tom Lee said at a shareholder meeting earlier this month.
Read More: Tom Lee’s BitMine Pushes Ethereum to $8 Billion Stakebook
