Bitmine Immersion Technologies, the world’s largest Ethereum [ETH] treasury firm, took advantage of the recent ETH price dip.
On the 18th of May, the firm reported that it now holds 5.28 million ETH, worth $11.2 billion at current market prices. This followed last week’s acquisition of $153 million worth of ETH (71,672 tokens). Commenting on the latest buying spree, Tom Lee, Bitmine’s chairman, said,
We view the recent pullback of ETH to below $2,200 as an attractive opportunity. Bitmine is expected to reach the ‘alchemy of 5%’ sometime in 2026.
The firm is targeting 6 million ETH and has already reached 87% of that goal. Currently, Bitmine has staked 89% of its holdings, 4,712,917 ETH valued at $10.3 billion. Furthermore, Lee is positioning the firm to bet on the tokenization and AI agents’ boom. According to him, Ethereum will serve as an infrastructure layer for these two themes, and ETH will be the ultimate winner.
However, as of writing, ETH appeared at the crossroads, with analysts expressing conflicting outlooks.
Staking soars, but ETH price lags
So far in 2026, ETH staking demand surged to a record 32% in April. Despite a slight cool-off in early May, the staking demand is now back to 31% of the overall supply.
By extension, this could be read as a long-term holder’s bullish conviction. And on-chain tokenization could drive the staking demand even further, especially after the SEC plans to unveil a regulatory framework for the sector this week.
Still, some players, such as Grayscale, believe a high ETH staking ratio does not inherently improve network security. In fact, it could do more harm than good, as extra supply from staking rewards could cap ETH’s value.
On the price charts, ETH has dumped harder than BTC during the recent pullback. While BTC slipped about 7%, ETH slumped 12.6% and dropped below $2200.
Part of the soured market sentiment could also have been driven by Jane Street rotating to ETH, as its BTC manipulation claims could have spooked other investors. ETH’s market sentiment dipped to fear levels of 29. But according to the on-chain analytics platform, Alphractal, ETH was not ‘dead’ yet. The firm noted that whales with over 10K ETH had collectively increased their holdings to 41 million tokens.
Final Summary
- Bitmine now holds $11 billion worth of ETH and has staked 89% of it after taking advantage of the recent price dip.
- Staking demand has surged, but the ETH price was yet to follow suit.
