Tom Lee, President of Ether Treasury firm BitMine Immersion (BMNR) urged shareholders to approve a board proposal for a sharp increase in the company’s number of authorized shares.
In a message at the beginning of the year, Lee said the proposal to increase the number of shares in the company from 500 million to 50 billion is not a precursor to a measure to “dilute” shareholders.
“[This]That doesn’t mean we’re issuing 50 billion shares. That’s what we want total maximum shares to be,” Lee said.
Recognizing that a larger number of shares makes it easier for the company to raise capital, Lee reminded that it also allows BitMine to make opportunistic deals and, most importantly, according to Lee, adapt to future stock splits.
Lee argued that BitMine’s share price has increasingly followed ether since the company pivoted last year to make ETH its primary treasury asset. If the price of ether increases over the years as he expects (up to $250,000 if bitcoin reaches $1 million), splits will be necessary to keep the shares “accessible” to the public.
Lee framed the proposal within a broader thesis that Ethereum will play a central role in Wall Street’s push toward tokenized financial markets, pointing to BlackRock CEO Larry Fink’s public comments on blockchain-based market infrastructure. Lee has separately said that he has been personally accumulating ether, aligning his macro view with BitMine’s treasury strategy.
Lee reminded shareholders that they have until January 14 to vote on the proposal, and that BitMine’s annual shareholder meeting is scheduled for January 15 in Las Vegas.
