Bitmine Immersion Technologies chairman Tom Lee says Ether’s “mini-crypto winter” may be in its final stages as the firm bought another $139 million worth of ETH, bringing it closer to its goal of acquiring 5% of the token’s circulating supply.
Lee said in a statement on Monday that Bitmine has maintained a higher buying pace over the last three weeks as it expects the wrapping up of a several-month-long Ether (ETH) slump as its “base case.”
The crypto markets crashed in October last year, with Bitcoin (BTC) falling from its all-time peak above $126,000 during the month, while Ether declined from its August high of $4,946. Analysts have been debating when the crypto markets will see a meaningful rebound.
Lee pointed to positive catalysts, such as the CLARITY Act advancing in Congress and crypto’s relative stability despite recent turmoil in Iran, as signs that winter is starting to thaw.
“As many have noticed, crypto and particularly ETH have outperformed the broader market since the Iran war commenced, with ETH rising 18% and outperforming equities by 2,450 basis points,” he said.
“This is a marked contrast to Gold, a traditional store of value, which has fallen more than 15%. Crypto is demonstrating itself to be a good ‘wartime’ store of value,” Lee added.
After its latest purchase, Bitmine has 4.6 million Ether. Source: StrategicEthReserve
Lee’s statements came as Bitmine disclosed it had purchased an additional 65,341 Ether in the past week (worth $139 million), bringing total holdings to more than 4.6 million tokens.
Bitmine nears Ether accumulation goal
Bitmine has stockpiled roughly 3.86% of the total circulating supply of 120.6 million since announcing its crypto pivot eight months ago.
To reach its goal based on the current total supply, the company will need to buy roughly 1.4 million tokens, which, at current prices, would cost roughly $2.9 billion, according to CoinGecko.
Ether does not have a fixed supply; it can increase or decrease based on whether more is burned than issued.
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The firm has also leaned heavily…
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