Key Points
Bitmine holds 4.9% of all ETH in circulation, making it the biggest Ethereum treasury company.
With holdings of $15.5 billion, Bitmine holds even more ETH than the spot Ethereum ETFs.
Once Bitmine goes offline, it may be harder to maintain a floor under the price of Ethereum.
Since June 2025, Bitmine Immersion Technologies (NYSE: BMNR) has transformed itself from a tiny Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) mining operation into the world's foremost Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) treasury company. Bitmine now owns $15.5 billion worth of Ethereum, or roughly 4.9% of all ETH in circulation.
That's the problem. Bitmine has told investors that it will stop buying Ethereum as soon as it reaches the 5% threshold. If you're an Ethereum investor, that's a real problem.
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Bitmine's Ethereum buying binge is over
Bitmine's new strategy means that the most persistent buyer of Ethereum over the past 12 months will no longer be making spot crypto purchases. Since June 2025, when Bitmine embarked on its Ethereum buying binge, it has made purchases, week in and week out, just like clockwork. That's how Bitmine became the biggest Ethereum treasury company on the planet.
If you think about it, Bitmine has employed the ultimate dollar-cost averaging (DCA) strategy. Bitmine bought Ethereum on the way up (during the summer of 2025), and it bought Ethereum on the way down (throughout 2026). Along the way, it has stacked more than 6 million ETH.
Image source: Getty Images.
As an Ethereum treasury company, Bitmine's sole purpose for existing is to buy and hoard as much Ethereum as possible. If that activity stops, crypto investors have reason to be concerned about the future upside potential of Ethereum.
Going forward, Bitmine will embark on an entirely new treasury management strategy based around yield maximization. In other words, it's going to find new ways to crank out higher and higher returns with all the Ethereum it has acquired. That might be great for Bitmine investors, but it's not so great for Ethereum investors.
What happens to the price of Ethereum next?
Of course, there are other publicly traded Ethereum treasury companies that could pick up the slack from Bitmine. The one on my radar right now is SharpLink (NASDAQ: SBET), which holds 868,699 ETH. That's roughly 15% of what Bitmine holds, making SharpLink the second-largest Ethereum treasury company.
Crypto investors can also count on exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows helping to prop up the price of Ethereum. This year, Ethereum ETFs are once again seeing net inflows, and this could help to provide a nice floor under the price of Ethereum. These ETFs now hold $15 billion worth of Ethereum, roughly the same amount as Bitmine.
When digital asset treasury companies launched in the summer of 2025, they seemed to be the future of the cryptocurrency sector. Twelve months later, investors are seeing their limitations. Some are folding entirely, others are winding down operations, and still others are pivoting into new areas.
That being said, it's hard to be bullish on the prospects for Ethereum heading into 2027. The biggest buyer of Ethereum is no longer buying. If Bitmine is no longer stacking Ethereum, I'll be looking for better crypto investment opportunities elsewhere.
Dominic Basulto has positions in Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.