Bitmine Stakes 5M ETH as Treasury Holdings Reach $15.8B

Bitmine Immersion Technologies added to its Ether holdings last week while projecting hundreds of millions of dollars in annual staking revenue, highlighting how its massive ETH treasury could generate income even during volatile market conditions.

In a Monday announcement, Bitmine said it acquired 27,180 ETH last week, bringing its holdings to more than 5.95 million ETH, worth roughly $15.4 billion and representing about 4.9% of Ether’s circulating supply. Including cash and other crypto assets, Bitmine reported total holdings of approximately $15.8 billion.

Bitmine said more than 5.06 million ETH is now staked, generating an estimated $334 million in annualized staking revenue at current rates.

With roughly 85% of its ETH now staked, Bitmine is turning its crypto treasury into a potentially significant source of recurring revenue. For comparison, Grayscale Ethereum Staking ETF (ETHE), the first spot Ether US exchange-traded product, has 84.6% of its Ether holdings staked, according to the fund’s webpage.

The company’s strategy also offers a key advantage over Bitcoin treasury companies, whose core BTC holdings do not generate native staking yield.

Bitmine shares were little changed on Monday, trading just below $25 in morning trading. The stock has gained nearly 38% over the past month but remains down year to date, according to Yahoo Finance data.

Related: Bitmine buys 28k ETH, completes 97% of treasury accumulation goal

Strategy skipped Bitcoin purchases last week

While Bitmine continued adding to its Ether treasury, Michael Saylor’s Strategy went a second consecutive week without buying Bitcoin (BTC), directing capital toward its preferred stock instead.

Strategy repurchased about 1.42 million shares of its STRC preferred stock for $139.3 million between Sept. 8 and Sept. 13. The company also bought back $176.3 million worth of STRC the previous week, according to a Monday filing.

Strategy’s Bitcoin holdings remained unchanged at 845,050 BTC as of Sept. 13. Its last purchase came in late August, when the company acquired 4,603 BTC for $369.7 million.

In the final week of August, Strategy purchased 4,603 BTC for roughly $370 million, marking its first Bitcoin purchase since June. The subsequent pause, alongside the significant STRC buybacks in recent weeks, shows how the company is balancing Bitcoin accumulation with support for its preferred stock.

Related: Crypto Biz: AI took a back seat when Bitcoin started climbing