Tom Lee strongly advocates for BitMine's 100x issuance, holding over 4.1 million ETH to stake in the Ethereum "super cycle"

Bitcoin renowned analyst and Chairman of BitMine, Tom Lee, is pushing forward with a groundbreaking capital operation: seeking shareholder approval to significantly increase the company’s authorized share limit from 500 million shares to 50 billion shares. This move aims to pave the way for potential massive future financing and stock splits, with the core goal of continuing to increase investments in Ethereum.

This publicly listed company, which has completed its transformation from a mining firm to an “Ethereum whale,” currently holds over 4.1 million ETH, valued at approximately $12 billion, and has staked ETH worth about $1.6 billion to generate yields. This aggressive capital strategy not only reflects management’s extreme optimism about Ethereum’s price but also presents shareholders with a choice between “share dilution” and “crypto asset exposure.”

BitMine’s Bold Move: Detailed Explanation of the 100x Share Issuance Proposal

For ordinary investors, a proposal to expand a company’s authorized share capital by 100 times is itself a highly alerting signal. However, when the company is deeply tied to Ethereum’s price—like BitMine—and the proposer is Tom Lee, known for bold predictions, the situation becomes complex and thought-provoking. Currently, BitMine’s shareholders face a critical voting deadline: before January 14, decide whether to approve increasing the company’s authorized share limit from the current 500 million shares to an astonishing 50 billion shares.

In a video message to shareholders, Lee urgently explains that this does not mean the company will immediately issue 50 billion shares, which would instantly dilute existing shareholders’ interests. He emphasizes that this is merely a “structural adjustment” aimed at enhancing the company’s capital flexibility. According to him, the two main purposes of this adjustment are: first, to reserve space for potential large-scale future financing (including raising funds to buy more ETH); second, to prepare for stock splits if the share price follows Ethereum’s significant rise, thereby maintaining appeal to retail investors. In short, BitMine aims to pre-position “ammunition” and “split tools” to respond to its anticipated Ethereum “super cycle.”

The initial market reaction to this proposal was positive. After the announcement, BitMine’s stock rose about 14% on the day, closing near $30.93. This perhaps reflects some investors’ agreement with Lee’s logic: a higher nominal share price (e.g., $500 or $5,000 per share) could hinder retail participation, while stock splits (e.g., 1:20 or 1:100) could keep the share price in a “friendly” range (around $25 as Lee mentioned), helping to maintain liquidity and market attention. However, the short-term rise in stock price cannot mask the deep controversy and risks behind the proposal. The large increase in authorized shares essentially gives management a blank check; how, when, and at what price they will issue new shares in the future will depend entirely on management’s decisions.

Key Information on BitMine’s Ethereum Holdings and the Share Issuance Proposal

Current authorized share limit: 500 million shares

Proposed new authorized share limit: 50 billion shares (100x increase)

Shareholder voting deadline: January 14, 2026

Annual meeting date: January 15, 2026 (in Las Vegas)

Current ETH holdings: approximately 4.11 million ETH (continuously increasing)

Total ETH value: approximately $120 billion (based on current prices)

Staked ETH and value: about 544,000 ETH, worth approximately $1.6 billion

Share of ETH circulating supply: about 3.41%

Recent acquisitions: over $1 billion worth of ETH purchased in the past month

Transition to Ethereum Whale: BitMine’s Aggressive Asset-Liability Restructuring

To understand why BitMine needs such a massive capital plan, one must look back at its strategic shift over the past year. Originally, BitMine Immersion Technologies was focused on Bitcoin mining and related infrastructure. However, starting in 2025, management executed a “textbook-level” sector switch, shifting the core strategy from traditional crypto mining to accumulating and holding Ethereum as the main treasury asset.

This transformation is astonishing in its thoroughness. According to the latest disclosures, BitMine now holds over 4.11 million ETH, making it the largest known single Ethereum holding entity in the public markets. Its holdings account for about 3.41% of Ethereum’s total circulating supply, positioning BitMine as a significant player in the Ethereum ecosystem. More aggressively, the company does not merely hold these ETH statically in cold wallets but actively deploys them to generate yields. Recently, BitMine staked an additional $260 million worth of ETH within a week, bringing its total staked ETH to about 544,000, valued at roughly $1.6 billion. This means BitMine is not just a holder but also a key validator on the Ethereum network, earning staking rewards and turning its balance sheet into a productive, cash-flow-generating asset.

This transformation essentially redefines BitMine from a high-cost, hardware-dependent mining company troubled by hardware efficiency and electricity prices into a highly leveraged “Ethereum price tracker” similar to a closed-end fund. Lee himself admits that the company’s stock price performance is now highly correlated with Ethereum’s price movements—possibly even more so than with its own operational metrics like hash rate or energy consumption. In other words, investors buying and selling BitMine’s stock are largely trading on expectations of Ethereum’s future price. This positioning means the company’s market value management and strategic development must closely revolve around how to maximize its Ethereum exposure and manage the resulting stock price volatility.

Share Dilution and Ethereum Exposure: Shareholders’ Dilemma

Lee’s proposal puts BitMine’s shareholders in a classic financial dilemma: accept the risk of future dilution of their equity in exchange for the company raising more capital to increase its Ethereum holdings and share in Ethereum’s potential upside; or reject the authorization, maintaining current equity ratios but possibly missing the opportunity to expand assets during a bull market through financing.

Lee paints an enticing long-term vision. He hypothesizes two extreme Ethereum price scenarios: in a moderate scenario, ETH rises to $22,000, which could push BitMine’s stock to around $500; in an aggressive scenario, Bitcoin reaches $1 million, and ETH rises to $250,000, implying a potential stock value of up to $5,000. He notes that if the stock truly reaches $500 or $5,000, stock splits (e.g., 1:20 or 1:100) would be necessary to keep retail investors engaged, which requires sufficient authorized shares as a prerequisite.

However, the implicit “financing to buy more ETH” logic in the proposal raises deep concerns about dilution. Although Lee states that “authorization does not mean issuance,” increasing the limit to 50 billion shares undoubtedly opens the door for future “at-the-market” (ATM) offerings. Such offerings allow the company to continuously sell small amounts of new shares at favorable prices to raise funds. Lee hints that BitMine might leverage its stock’s premium over its NAV (net asset value) of ETH holdings to finance further acquisitions. For example, when market sentiment is high, and the stock trades at a premium relative to its ETH NAV, issuing new shares to buy more ETH could theoretically create value for existing shareholders—despite a slight dilution—by increasing total ETH holdings and potentially raising the per-share ETH value. But this strategy’s success hinges entirely on Ethereum’s continued appreciation and whether the gains outweigh dilution effects. If ETH stagnates or declines, dilution would merely diminish shareholder value.

On social media and investment forums, opinions are divided. Supporters see this as a visionary move, preparing for various future scenarios and demonstrating management’s ambition. Critics view it as a “dilution tool” for management, fearing that in a bullish frenzy, the company might issue shares at overly high valuations, only to see the market cool and shareholders suffer asset devaluation and dilution simultaneously.

Industry Trendsetter: The 2.0 Era of Crypto Asset Allocation by Public Companies

BitMine’s bold capital gamble is not an isolated event. It signals that the model of listed companies participating in the crypto market is evolving from the 1.0 era of “tentative allocation” to the 2.0 era of “strategic heavy holdings and active management.” Early examples like MicroStrategy primarily used retained earnings and financing to buy Bitcoin and hold long-term, with minimal active on-chain operations. BitMine’s approach goes further: it not only holds a large position in Ethereum but also actively stakes (staking) to generate yields and openly seeks to expand its exposure through capital market equity tools.

The success or failure of this model will become a key industry benchmark. If BitMine’s aggressive strategy delivers significantly higher returns than simply holding ETH, it could inspire more listed companies to follow suit, leveraging their public market financing to deepen their crypto asset allocations. This could further blur the lines between traditional listed companies and native crypto investment entities, encouraging more traditional capital to flow into the crypto ecosystem in more complex and active ways—especially into platforms like Ethereum, which possess sophisticated financial attributes and yield-generating capabilities.

On the other hand, this also introduces new, uncertain realms for corporate governance and shareholder rights. How should management’s decisions to aggressively allocate capital into crypto assets be evaluated? How to oversee the use of proceeds from share issuance? When a company’s balance sheet is primarily composed of highly volatile crypto assets, do traditional valuation models and risk management frameworks still hold? Shareholder votes on BitMine are not just about approving an issuance proposal—they are, in a sense, casting a vote on the emerging trend of “crypto-izing” listed companies.

Tom Lee and BitMine’s board are betting on the long-term value of the Ethereum ecosystem and the future recognition of real-world asset (RWA) tokenization narratives. They aim to turn the company into a high-leverage, highly liquid “proxy tool” for retail investors to share in Ethereum’s growth dividends through complex capital structures. Regardless of the final outcome of this gamble, it has already written a bold and eye-catching chapter in the story of the integration of cryptocurrency and traditional finance. The voting result and subsequent Ethereum price movements will jointly determine whether this chapter begins as a legendary saga or a cautionary tale.