Bitcoin mining firm BitMine Immersion Technologies has bought up over $2 billion of Ether in just 16 days, retaking the lead among a flurry of newly formed Ether treasury companies.
BitMine said in a statement on Thursday that in the last 16 days, it had bought up 566,776 Ether (ETH), worth over $2.03 billion.
Tom Lee, the managing partner of FundStrat and the chairman of BitMine, said after the latest buying spree, the company is “well on our way to achieving our goal of acquiring and staking 5% of the overall ETH supply.”
BitMine’s aggressive buying spree signals a growing interest from institutions in Ethereum.
Strategic Ether Reserves shows BitMine as the largest Ether treasury firm, followed by SharpLink Gaming with approximately 360,800 ETH and the Ethereum Foundation, which is listed as holding around 237,500 ETH.
BitMine wants 5% of the Ether supply; Saylor only has 2.9% of Bitcoin
At Ether’s current supply, 5% of all Ether equates to around 6 million Ether, costing around $22 billion at current prices.
Ether does not have a fixed supply; it can increase or decrease based on whether more ETH is burned than issued (which would make it deflationary).
If it succeeds, BitMine would hold a larger share of the Ether supply than Michael Saylor’s company, Strategy, has of Bitcoin currently, which is 607,770 Bitcoin (BTC), representing 2.9% of Bitcoin’s 21 million coin supply.
However, Saylor has said he will continue accumulating Bitcoin as a long-term treasury asset.
Meanwhile, BitMine has flipped SharpLink Gaming again as the largest corporate Ether holder.
On Tuesday, SharpLink Gaming reported a purchase of 79,949 Ether, bringing its total holdings to 360,807, worth about $1.3 billion at current market prices.
Stock up since Ether pivot
Both BitMine and SharpLink Gaming saw their stock prices pump after announcing Ether treasury plans.
Days after announcing its plans to buy Ether, Bitmine stock (BMNR) skyrocketed more than 3,000% to an all-time high of $135 on July 3.
Meanwhile, following its Ether pivot announcement on May 27, SharpLink Gaming’s (SBET) share price spiked 171% to trade at $79.21.
Related: Cathie Wood sells Coinbase, Roblox shares for Tom Lee’s ETH firm
Billions of Ether in strategic reserves
There are currently 2.31 million Ether held in 61 strategic reserves, representing 1.91% of the total supply, worth $8.46 billion, according to the Strategic Ether Reserves.
In comparison, Bitbo data shows that 206 firms hold more than 3.4 million in Bitcoin, which is worth over $408 billion and represents 16.5% of the total supply.
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