Bitmine Immersion Technologies bought 12,532 ETH over the past week, worth roughly $31.9 million at the $2,544 per-token valuation the company used in its Monday disclosure. The purchase lifts the NYSE-listed firm's holdings to 6,028,946 ETH — 4.9% of Ethereum's total 122.1 million token supply.

That leaves Bitmine 99% of the way to its stated target of owning 5% of all ETH, a goal the company brands the "Alchemy of 5%." Chairman Tom Lee says the finish line is close.

What does Bitmine actually hold?

The company's October 12 update put total crypto, cash and investment holdings at $16.2 billion. The breakdown, per the release:

• 6,028,946 ETH valued at $2,544 per token (priced via Coinbase)
• 214 Bitcoin (BTC)
• $612 million in cash and marketable securities
• A $180 million stake in Beast Industries
• An $85 million stake in Eightco Holdings

The latest purchase follows $41 million in ETH bought the week before. In a press release, Lee claimed Bitmine's "track record of consistent buying of crypto is unmatched by any public company in the world."

What happens when the buying stops?

In his monthly Chairman's message last week, Lee put the remaining gap bluntly: "about 100,000 more ETH, and that's about it." He has said repeatedly that the firm's Ethereum accumulation halts once it hits the 5% mark.

"Now we're done stacking while a bull market is starting," Lee said in the video. "So if we're done stacking, but ETH goes up a lot, you can imagine that we'll outperform Ethereum."

The strategy's operational core is staking. Bitmine has staked 5,067,309 of its ETH, which Lee said generates annualized staking revenue of about $336 million. Once purchases stop, that yield stream — plus any ETH price appreciation — becomes the engine of shareholder returns rather than fresh accumulation.

Lee's bull case

Lee predicted the coming crypto bull market would be "the biggest bull market we've ever seen." He cited four drivers: tokenization, a generational wealth transfer toward younger investors, supply absorbed by digital asset treasury firms, and AI agents transacting through crypto wallets.

He tied the thesis directly to the stock. Bitmine shares, then trading around $26, are roughly 90% correlated with ETH, according to Lee, who projected that ETH at $22,000 would put the stock in a $300 to $500 range. Those are the chairman's projections, not market consensus.

A second instrument: the preferred

Bitmine also carries a 9.5% perpetual preferred stock, BMNP, issued at $80 in June. It last closed at $99.53, according to the release. The preferred gives the company a second capital instrument alongside common equity — relevant as it shifts from accumulation mode to a holdings-and-yield model that depends on staking income and ETH's price trajectory.

The immediate milestone to watch is mechanical: roughly 100,000 ETH of additional buying stands between Bitmine and the close of its accumulation program, after which the firm's Ethereum exposure moves with the market rather than against its own bid.