Nearing 5% Position Limit, BitMine’s Ethereum Treasury Strategy May Conclude Within Six Weeks

Tom Lee, Chairman of BitMine Immersion Technologies, stated that the company will stop accumulating ETH once its holdings reach 5% of the coin's total supply, a strategy that has made BitMine the largest corporate holder of Ethereum.

Speaking at the TOKEN2049 conference in Singapore, Lee noted that BitMine is nearing this cap and will not continue hoarding indefinitely. He stated:

"We only need to buy another 100,000 ETH to reach the 5% share."

Notably, the company's actual distance to the goal is closer than Lee's estimate. According to the latest disclosure, as of October 4, BitMine holds 6,016,414 ETH, accounting for 4.9% of the 122.1 million ETH total supply used in this article. This means BitMine needs approximately 88,586 more ETH to reach the 5% total supply target.

Source: Bitmine official website Chairman's message video from October 7, 2026

Estimated at $2,500 per ETH, completing the remaining purchases would require approximately $221 million. BitMine disclosed cash and securities holdings of $643 million, providing sufficient liquidity to cover this purchase while retaining most of its funds.

BitMine Expected to Reach 5% Cap Within Weeks

Even if BitMine slows its accumulation pace, it is on track to reach the 5% cap set by Tom Lee before year-end based on its latest buying speed. During the week ending October 4, the company purchased an additional 15,112 ETH. At this rate, acquiring the remaining 88,586 ETH would take approximately 5.9 weeks, with the threshold expected to be hit by mid-November.

Accelerating the procurement pace would shorten the timeframe: purchasing 20,000 ETH per week would take about 4.4 weeks; slowing down to 10,000 ETH per week would require 8.9 weeks, pushing the milestone to early December.

These projections are estimates rather than a firm company plan. BitMine has not committed to a fixed weekly procurement quota, and fluctuations in Ethereum's total supply will also alter the token quantity corresponding to the 5% holding threshold.

Additionally, there are indications that BitMine may have already completed another round of purchases following its latest disclosure. Blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain reported on October 7 that the company appears to have acquired another 12,500 ETH via BitGo, valued at $33.65 million. This transaction has not yet been included in BitMine's official holding updates, so it was not factored into the previous timeline calculations. If confirmed, the remaining gap would shrink to approximately 76,086 ETH, allowing the company to reach Lee's cap earlier than initially projected.

This signals an impending strategic shift for BitMine. Once constrained by the 5% cap, growth in its ETH holdings will primarily rely on staking rewards rather than continuous accumulation in the secondary market.

Staking Yields Replace Secondary Market Accumulation

BitMine has already established staking as a key revenue source for its Ethereum treasury. As of October 4, the company has staked approximately 5.07 million ETH, representing 84% of its total holdings, with estimated annual returns reaching $363 million. BitMine calculates that under a 2.63% annualized yield assumption, staking all ETH would increase annual returns to approximately $431 million. As the company can no longer continuously buy coins in the market to expand its position, the importance of staking income will continue to rise.

However, staking-generated tokens pose a challenge to Lee's hard cap. Staking rewards continuously increase BitMine's token count. When holdings approach 5% of Ethereum's total supply, even without any further public market purchases, staking rewards alone could push the position past this threshold.

BitMine has yet to determine how to handle this excess token supply. Potential options include allocating less room for additional purchases, adjusting the handling of staking rewards, or selling off some ETH if necessary to maintain the holding ratio within the cap.

Furthermore, the 5% target threshold itself will fluctuate with Ethereum's total supply: if ETH supply contracts, the maximum holdable quantity corresponding to the 5% cap decreases; if the supply expands, it can accommodate more tokens.

As the accumulation phase draws to a close, BitMine faces new treasury management challenges. For over a year, the company's focus has been on continuously buying ETH; moving forward, safeguarding Lee's established holding cap will require actively managing the staking tokens continuously generated by its existing treasury.

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