Bitmine (BMNR), the largest Ethereum treasury, increased its purchases of ether (ETH) last week, making its largest weekly purchase in 2026 as cryptocurrency prices plummeted.
The company bought 126,971 ETH over the past week, worth about $214 million at current prices, Bitmine said on Monday, compared to 26,497 tokens the week before and nearly 120,000 ETH the week before.
According to the report, the purchase brought the company’s total holdings to 5.54 million ETH, worth about $9.3 billion at current prices. The company also had $247 million in cash, some bitcoin, and stakes in Beast Industries and Eightco Holdings.
The acquisition marks a shift from the company’s previous call to slow accumulation as it moves closer to its goal of cornering 5% of the outstanding ether supply. The company now holds 4.59% of the token supply and is projected to reach the 5% target by the end of this year.
“We increased our purchases because we believe this pullback in ETH prices does not reflect strengthening Ethereum fundamentals,” Bitmine President Thomas Lee said in a statement.
Bitmine remains one of the few large digital asset treasuries still actively increasing its cryptocurrency holdings, while most of its peers paused purchases and shifted to selling as cryptocurrency prices fell sharply since October. That bet is based on an estimated $9.6 billion in paper losses as ETH fell to its weakest price in over a year, down roughly 65% from its August record.
The firm also revealed plans to issue a class of dividend-paying preferred shares to raise more funds, following the lead of the bitcoin-focused strategy.
That model, however, has come under scrutiny from investors. Investors are now debating whether Strategy will be able to comfortably pay its dividend obligations or shore up liquidity, as bitcoin prices fell sharply last week. STRC, the company’s latest class of preferred stock, fell to $90 on Friday, about 10% below its face value, underscoring those concerns.
