Even after watching greater than $4 billion in unrealized losses pile up over the previous month, the Bitmine chairman is charging deeper into his Ethereum bet.
Because the crypto market reveals early indicators of restoration, Lee’s conviction seems stronger, not weaker.
In December, Lee’s ETH-focused treasury agency Bitmine scooped up over 90,000 ETH, simply as Ethereum pushed back above $3,200 following final month’s steep drawdown.
Between late November and early December, Bitmine bought 96,798 ETH in a single week. It is a vital enhance from a couple of weeks in the past.
Bitmine’s latest acquisition — valued at roughly $150 million — pushes its holdings to greater than 3.7 million ETH, or simply over 3% of all the Ethereum provide.
Though the agency hasn’t issued any public statements, the exercise was flagged by the on-chain analytics platform Arkham Intelligence.
The agency’s present stack is valued at roughly $18 billion, effectively above its common entry of $2,812 per ETH.
Based as BitMine Immersion Applied sciences, the agency started its Ethereum treasury technique in mid-2025, kicking issues off with a $250 million non-public placement.
Since then, it has accrued ETH by means of each market situation — rallies, corrections, and outright capitulations.
The long-term objective is evident: Bitmine needs to amass and stake 5% of all circulating ETH, or roughly 6 million cash.
The place Saylor turned his software program firm right into a Bitcoin vault, Lee is constructing a corporate-scale Ethereum treasury, accumulating by means of volatility with a watch on long-term dominance.
When ETH plunged beneath $2,700, Bitmine was sitting on greater than $4 billion in unrealized losses, weighed down by giant buys as excessive as $3,900. However somewhat than retreat, the agency accelerated its technique.
It’s the identical strategy that helped Saylor flip early losses into billions in revenue as soon as the 2025 bull cycle took off.
Technique’s Bitcoin common entry now sits close to $77,000, making the agency one of the worthwhile company crypto traders in historical past.
Lee isn’t shy about following that blueprint — and to this point, the market is rewarding him for it.
Speaking at Binance Blockchain Week, Tom Lee stated he believes the crypto market has already bottomed, even suggesting that new highs may arrive earlier than the tip of the yr.
Drawing a parallel to the post-FTX collapse restoration, Lee famous that the market entered worth discovery roughly eight weeks after that occasion.
Throughout his presentation, Lee additionally revealed that Bitmine introduced on Tom DeMark and DeMark Analytics to assist information its aggressive accumulation technique.
“We wished to grasp how crypto costs labored,” Lee stated.
Based on Lee, DeMark suggested Bitmine to dramatically gradual its ETH purchases, which the agency did, chopping from roughly 100,000 ETH per week to about 50,000–60,000.
Nonetheless, with ETH dropping beneath $3,000, Bitmine has now accelerated its shopping for once more.
“We imagine ETH costs have bottomed… we’re bullish on Ethereum,” Lee stated.
After dipping beneath $2,700, ETH has now surged 45% from its November lows, buying and selling above $3,200 as of Dec. 5.
The rally was fueled partially by the Fusaka upgrade on Dec. 3, which considerably improved Ethereum’s scaling capability.
Key enhancements embody:
8x enhance in Layer-2 information throughput.
40–60% discount in transaction charges.
Extra environment friendly rollup efficiency and community synchronicity.
On-chain exercise is accelerating as effectively:
Spot quantity jumped 40% to $26.58 billion.
Futures open curiosity hit $3.02 billion.
Giant ETH holders (1,000–10,000 ETH wallets) resumed accumulation.
Technical momentum can also be bettering, with the RSI hovering close to 62 and a clear MACD bullish crossover.
The market is now treating $3,000 as new help — a vital psychological stage for institutional patrons.
With ETH reclaiming key ranges and community fundamentals strengthening, Tom Lee’s technique not seems reckless — it seems early.
Bitmine’s subsequent milestone shall be crossing 4 million ETH, and if accumulation continues at its present tempo, the agency may attain its 5% provide objective far ahead of anticipated.
Whereas volatility stays a given, the current bounce mixed with long-term structural upgrades paints a positive image for Ethereum heading into 2026.
If ETH can maintain above $3,000 and make a decisive push towards $3,500, Bitmine’s long-term thesis might shift from controversial to visionary — very like Saylor’s did.
Ethereum’s second main improve of the yr, Fusaka, has gone dwell, bringing ahead supercharged information capability, diminished transaction prices and...