Ethereum News: Tom Lee’s Bitmine Buys 60,000 ETH Amid Potential Russell 1000 Inclusion

Tom Lee’s Bitmine has bought more ETH over the last 24 hours, boosting its Ethereum treasury to above 5.3 million ETH. This comes amid the company chairman Tom Lee’s revelation that they could be on course to join the Russell 1000.

Bitmine Adds 60,000 ETH As Ethereum Holdings Surpass 5.3 Million ETH

In an X post, on-chain analytics platform Onchain Lens revealed that a wallet likely linked to the Ethereum treasury company withdrew 60,000 ETH, worth $126 million, from Bitgo and the crypto exchange Kraken. With this latest purchase, the company now holds over 5.33 million ETH.

This latest purchase follows Bitmine’s $154 million ETH purchase announced earlier this week. The company now holds over 4.3% of the total ETH supply, moving closer to its goal of 5%. Meanwhile, the company has staked over 4.7 million of its ETH holdings, worth over $10 billion, with annualized staking revenues now at $289 million.

Bitmine’s Chairman, Tom Lee, stated earlier this week that they view the recent pullback of ETH to below $2,200 as an “attractive opportunity,” which could explain the significant purchases below this level. Lee also mentioned that they expect to reach the ‘alchemy of 5%’ sometime in 2026.

Ethereum is currently trading below $2,200 and struggling to hold above the psychological $2,000 level, with ETH and the broader crypto market declining after the SEC delayed its decision on tokenized stocks. The largest altcoin by market cap is currently trading at around 2,044, according to TradingView data.

It is worth noting that Tom Lee has consistently highlighted tokenization as one of the bull cases for Ethereum and as a reason Bitmine was investing in the crypto asset. As such, the SEC’s move presents a setback to this bull case.

ETH Treasury Firm On Course To Join Russell 100

In an X post, Tom Lee revealed that Bitmine is on the list for inclusion in the large-cap 1000 after FTSE Russell published its preliminary index inclusions and deletions. He cited BMNR stock as one of the reasons for this inclusion. The crypto stock’s market cap is above the minimum $5.7 billion for large-cap inclusion.

Furthermore, Lee explained why this development is bullish for the company, noting that many active managers buy equities only in the Russell 1000. He added that it is estimated that 20 to 35% of the market cap of a stock is held by passive index funds and ETFs.

As such, this is a positive for the Bitmine stock, which is down over 32% year-to-date (YTD). However, the stock is still up over 162% in the past year, around the time it adopted an Ethereum treasury strategy.