Why Is Cathie Wood Quietly Accumulating This Ethereum Treasury Stock

Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest has been on a massive accumulation spree, scooping more than 1 million shares of ETH treasury firm Bitmine Technologies (NYSE: BMNR), in the last two days. The purchase happened across different Ark Invest portfolio ETFs. The Tom Lee-led firm has become the largest ETH treasury firm with 625K ETH holdings, acquired within a very short time frame of 30-40 days.

Cathie Wood on Bitmine (BMNR) Acquisition Spree

Over the past two days, Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest funds have purchased a total of over 1 million BMNR shares, across different portfolio funds like Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK), ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW), and the Ark Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF). As said, Bitmine Technologies is the largest corporate holder of ETH, followed by SharpLink Gaming, which holds 438,017 ETH following yesterday’s purchase.

Earlier on Monday, the Ark Invest funds purchased a total of 572,853 BMNR shares, followed by another purchase of 477,498 shares on Tuesday. The BMNR stock price has experienced significant volatility recently. The stock has corrected 23% over the past week but still continues to find strong institutional interest. However, since its first ETH purchase on June 30, the stock is trading at 600% upside.

• The $1 Billion Buyback Plan

On Tuesday, July 29, Tom Lee’s Bitmine Technologies launched a $1 billion stock buyback program, aiming to enhance its crypto assets-per-share ratio. The company’s board members approved the open-ended repurchase plan, but without a fixed timeline. Tech billionaire Peter Thiel invested a staggering $500 million in the company last month.

As of now, it holds $401.4 million in unencumbered cash and reports a net asset value (NAV) of $22.76 per share. This includes a mix of cash and crypto holdings. Furthermore, the company now has $2.7 billion in crypto assets treasury, and continues to hold 154 BTC it had. Speaking on the development, Tom Lee said:

“In our road to achieving ‘the alchemy of 5%’ of ETH, there may be times when the best expected return of our capital is to acquire our own shares.”

On Tuesday, BitMine acquired an additional 58,224 ETH worth approximately $225 million, taking its total holdings to 625K ETH. The firm maintains that ETH could potentially reach $60,000 if the ongoing bull market persists.

Ethereum Treasury Assets Cross 2.5 Million

As per the data from Strategic ETH Reserve, the total ETH strategic reserves across 65 participants has reached 2.57 million ETH. This is true as the ETH treasury race heats up in the market with heavy institutional purchases over the past month.

On the other hand, Ethereum ETFs led by BlackRock has seen significant inflows over the past month amid strong institutional demand. In a major breakthrough, the US SEC approved in-kind redemptions for Ether ETFs, which could further attract institutional inflows.