BitMine Stakes $5.6B in Ethereum Amid ETH Supply Crunch

Tom Lee’s BitMine Immersion continues its aggressive Ethereum accumulation strategy, while allocating a portion of its portfolio to staking. Earlier today, the largest Ether treasury company staked a massive 86,848 tokens, further bolstering its long-term ETH exposure.

While the institutional accumulation of ETH intensifies, the altcoin is facing a significant shortage on exchanges. With the exchange balance thinning and BitMine exploring staking, the future of Ethereum remains promising.

BitMine Locks Up Billions in Staking

On-chain analytics platform Lookonchain took to X to reveal BiMine Immersion’s latest Ethereum staking moves. Just five hours ago, the Ethereum treasury company locked another 86,848 tokens, worth $277.5 million. According to Lookonchain’s X post, the company now holds a staggering 1,771,936 ETH, valued at $5.66 billion in its Ether staking portfolio.

It is worth noting that the platform continues to accumulate Ethereum despite increasing volatility. Recently, BitMine bought ETH of about 24k ETH, bringing its total ETH holdings to 4.17 million. Commenting on his strategy, CEO Lee noted,

“We remain the largest ‘fresh money’ buyer of ETH in the world. And when MAVAN launches its commercial operations, we will be the largest staking provider in the entire crypto ecosystem.”

Significantly, Tom Lee’s Ethereum staking initiative is a strategic move to manage its $4 billion debt. While Ether traded below the $3k threshold, the company saw unrealized losses of about $4 billion. Despite this short-term crash, Lee remained confident about Ether’s long-term success and thus launched staking for additional revenue.

As CoinGape reported earlier, this strategic move has contributed to the overall growth of Ethereum staking. With major players opting for holding their tokens for a long term, the Ethereum staking has hit record highs of $118 billion.

ETH Supply on Exchanges Tightens

Notably, institutions including BitMine are actively accumulating the largest altcoin. Besides Tom Lee’s firm, companies like SharpLink, The Ether Machine, and ETHZilla have also established their own Ether reserves.

This increasing corporate acquisition of Ether has resulted in a significant shortage in the token’s supply on exchanges. According to CryptoQuant, the amount of the crypto available on centralized exchanges (CEXs) has fallen to 16.3 million.  

This supply crunch implies that the ETH price has a bright future, as the demand picks up. As BitMine continues to accumulate and stake Ether, the supply drop is expected to surge. This indicates that the altcoin is setting the stage for a rally, despite the prevailing short-term correction.