BitMine adds 10,452 ETH and buys back 2.04 million shares in a single week

BitMine built its position the way Strategy built its bitcoin treasury: raise equity, buy the underlying asset, repeat. Chaired by Tom Lee, the Ethereum treasury firm pivoted from crypto mining to ETH accumulation in 2025 and now holds 4.95% of circulating supply. Unlike Strategy, which keeps adding bitcoin and funds itself partly through preferred stock, BitMine has started directing fresh capital toward its own shares rather than only toward more ETH.

Holders of BMNR stock get a shrinking share count: 22.9 million shares bought back in 2026 for $399.6 million, at an average of $17.48, with last week's tranche priced far higher at $22.48. That gap means recent buybacks cost more than the year's average, a reversal from buying cheap. Meanwhile ETH holders inside the treasury benefit from an 86% staking ratio on 5.23 million ETH, generating yield that buybacks alone do not produce.

Spending more on share repurchases than on new ETH during a single week marks a real shift in priorities for a company built to be a proxy for Ethereum exposure. It raises a fair question: is BitMine defending its stock against a discount to net asset value, or quietly hedging crypto's pullback by buying something it can control the price of. Tom Lee's framing, that crypto outperformed AI stocks in the recent drop, doesn't settle which motive dominates.