Tom Lee Calls Ethereum the "Value Storage During War" When Bitmine Is About to Reach 5% of Total Supply

Bitmine Immersion Technologies is currently controlling more than 4% of the total circulating Ethereum (ETH) after purchasing 71,524 tokens in just one week, the fastest accumulation rate since the end of December.
Bitmine ETH Holdings
Bitmine disclosed that as of April 12, the total amount of ETH it holds has reached approximately 4.87 million, equivalent to 81% of its stated goal of owning 5% of the total ETH supply. Bitmine rolled out its Ethereum treasury management strategy nine months ago and has continuously increased its weekly purchases over the past four weeks.
The latest profile also shows that the company holds 198 Bitcoin (BTC), a stake worth $200 million in Beast Industries and $85 million in Eightco Holdings, along with approximately $719 million in cash. Bitmine (BMNR)’s shares closed up more than 4% for the day, and gained about 1% in after-hours trading.
Tom Lee’s ETH War Graduation Thesis
Bitmine chairman Thomas Lee, co-founder of Fundstrat, argues that ETH has proven its value amid the ongoing geopolitical conflict. He said that the coin is up 17.4% since the crisis began, outperforming the S&P 500 index by 1,830 basis points and gold by 2,743 basis points.
“Ethereum continues to benefit from two favorable drivers: Wall Street tokenization on the blockchain and the increasing need for public and neutral blockchains by artificial intelligence (AI) systems,” Lee said.
He describes ETH as a “war-time store of value,” a label with significant weight given Bitmine’s position as the owner of the world’s largest Ethereum storage facility owned by a corporate group.
ETH has risen more than 7% over the past 24 hours, trading near $2,369.70 as overall risk sentiment improves. However, Bitmine’s aggressive investment strategy still carries significant risks, as the company’s unrealized losses from its cryptocurrency holdings exceed $6 billion.
Bitmine Accumulation History
Bitmine has continued to increase the amount of ETH it holds since rolling out its treasury management strategy in mid-2025.
As of the end of February, the company held about 3.66% of the total ETH supply and surpassed the 3.98% mark in early April. The company’s average weekly ETH purchases during most of that period ranged from 45,000 to 50,000 ETH before recently accelerating to 71,524 tokens.
The company has also just transitioned from the NYSE American to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), effective April 9.