Bitmine bought 101,627 ETH in a single week, worth $230 million: the largest single-week purchase in 2026, with ETH holdings nearing 5 million coins

According to a CoinDesk report, Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR), the Ethereum custody company on whose board Fundstrat founder Tom Lee was appointed chair last week, bought 101,627 ETH worth more than $230 million. It is the largest single-week purchase since 2026 to date, and also the company’s largest weekly cumulative buys since December 15, 2025. Total holdings are 4.98M ETH, or 4.12% of the total ETH supply, firmly keeping it as the world’s largest ETH custody provider and the world’s second-largest crypto custodian (behind MicroStrategy, Inc.’s 815k BTC only).

Strategic significance of nearly 5 million ETH

At ETH’s current average price of $2,301 per coin, 815k ETH has a total value of about $11.4 billion. Adding its cash position, Bitmine’s total crypto + cash holdings reach $12.9 billion. As a publicly traded company (BMNR trades on NASDAQ), this scale makes Bitmine an important indirect channel for institutional investors to allocate to ETH.

When a publicly traded company holds more than 4% of the total ETH supply, it has structural impacts on tokenomics: (1) Lock-up effect — most of these ETH are used for staking and long-term holding, not participating in short-term trading, reducing circulating supply; (2) Valuation anchor — the market’s valuation of ETH begins to reference Bitmine’s ETH-per-share; (3) Institutional follow-through effect — Bitmine’s strategy is publicly visible, so other institutions seeking ETH exposure can buy BMNR shares directly rather than accumulating on their own.

Counter-cyclical buildup: as other custodians pull back

Notably, Bitmine’s aggressive buildup this week sharply contrasts with the behavior of custody companies across the broader market. An analysis by CoinDesk on March 30 pointed out that other digital-asset custody firms have recently been slowing their acquisition pace. Driven by macro uncertainty, the war between Iran and the U.S., and oil-price volatility, many custodians choose to hold cash and wait. Bitmine takes the opposite approach, stepping in with heavy volume as BTC drops to 74K and ETH trades amid a volatile range around $2,300.

This counter-cyclical pace may be related to three factors: first, Bitmine’s recent Q1 earnings saw a $3.8 billion accounting loss, but staking revenue grew 7x, and operating cash flow remains strong; second, Tom Lee is a well-known ETH bull analyst, and his personal judgment tends toward counter-cyclical buildup; third, this week’s BTC ETF brought in $996 million in a single week, and MicroStrategy bought $2.54 billion in a single week, signaling broad institutional capital returning—prompting Bitmine to seize the rhythm in the ETH market.

The competitive landscape for ETH custody companies

Compared with the bitcoin custody space (represented by MicroStrategy), the ETH custody track is still in its early formation. Bitmine currently holds a clear lead, but as ETH staking yields stabilize at 3–5%, and Ethereum L2 ecosystem expansion adds a cash-flow narrative, more public companies may follow to build ETH custody operations. Publicly announced companies with an ETH strategic allocation include SharpLink Gaming, BitDigital, and others, but their scale is still far behind Bitmine.

By contrast to differences in institutional holdings between BTC and ETH: BTC’s institutional narrative is “digital gold plus anti-inflation,” centered on “a store of value that does not generate cash flow.” ETH is “digital infrastructure plus staking yield,” producing consistent returns year after year through staking. This makes ETH more attractive to institutional investors seeking yield—especially as last week’s net inflow of $275 million into spot ETH ETFs creates a dual institutional channel of “ETH ETF + ETH custody shares.”

Three ways Taiwan investors can participate

For Taiwan investors, the institutional narrative around ETH is being validated. There are three paths to participate: (1) Directly buy ETH — through local regulated exchanges such as BitoPro, MAX, and HOYA BIT, investors can pair staking-related wealth management to earn passive returns; (2) Buy BMNR via depository receipts — directly participate in Bitmine’s ETH exposure and benefit from advantages in public-company governance and transparency; (3) Wait for Taiwan’s ETH ETF approval — it is not yet open, but Japan is expected to allow it in stages starting in 2028, and Taiwan’s policy may follow.

Key observation checkpoints next: whether Bitmine’s May financial report discloses higher ETH holdings, the linkage between BMNR’s stock price and spot ETH, and whether MicroStrategy will expand from a pure BTC strategy to an ETH allocation (Saylor has publicly said multiple times that he is not optimistic about ETH, but institutional competitive pressure could change his stance). In the second half of 2026, the institutional race between BTC and ETH will enter a new stage.

This article: Bitmine buys 101,627 ETH in one week worth $230 million—largest single-week purchase in 2026; ETH holdings near 5 million coins. First appeared on ChainNews ABMedia.