Bitmine’s Ethereum Bet Nears $9 Billion Loss as Ethereum Falls Below $1,800

Shares of the company led by Tom Lee fell another 5.9% on Wednesday, dropping below $17 and extending their decline to 28% since the beginning of May. The stock has now fallen below its February lows to the lowest level since the company announced its shift to an Ethereum treasury strategy in 2025.

The sell-off came as $ETH retested its February lows. The second-largest cryptocurrency has lost more than 20% since the beginning of May, when Lee, co-founder of Fundstrat and chairman of BitMine, said that the market’s “mini crypto winter” was likely over and that a new “crypto spring” had begun.

Under Lee’s leadership, Bitmine accumulated more than 5,400,000 $ETH, or roughly 4.5% of Ethereum’s circulating supply, in about a year. This position is worth around $10,000,000,000 at current prices.

However, according to data compiled by DropsTab, these assets are now carrying unrealised losses of $8,900,000,000.

Bitmine Ethereum ($ETH) holdings and estimated unrealised losses. Source: DropsTab.

Digital Asset Treasuries Under Pressure

Bitmine’s drawdown highlights renewed pressure in the digital asset treasury sector, where companies are trying to replicate the playbook first introduced by Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy (MSTR): raise capital through public markets and use the proceeds to accumulate cryptocurrency.

This model is becoming increasingly difficult to sustain as cryptocurrency prices have fallen and the value of many treasury companies has dropped below the value of their underlying assets.

Strategy itself recently announced its first Bitcoin sale since 2022, sparking debate over how the company may fund future obligations related to the placement of its preferred shares.

Bitmine’s situation differs in several key respects. The company funded its $ETH purchases mainly through share issuance rather than debt, which spared it the leverage and interest-payment problems faced by some peer treasury companies.

The company also generates income from staking $ETH and operating the MAVAN staking service. Bitmine said it had staked more than 4,700,000 $ETH — around 87% of its assets — and recently estimated annual staking income at roughly $276,000,000.

Lee Forecasts $250,000 for $ETH

The recent price movement has not affected Lee’s long-term outlook.

Speaking at the Proof-of-Talk conference in Paris earlier this week, he said that $ETH could eventually reach $250,000 as tokenisation, AI-driven transactions and corporate staking change Ethereum’s role in the global financial system.

For now, investors appear to be focused on the more immediate reality. Ethereum has returned to levels last seen during the February sell-off, leaving Bitmine’s treasury deeply underwater and highlighting the gap between Lee’s long-term thesis and the market’s current view of the asset.

See also: "BitMine to Issue $300 Million in Shares to Purchase Ethereum"

#BitMine #Ethereum (ETH) #Reserve

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