{"id":166884,"date":"2026-05-17T20:00:48","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T20:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/?p=166884"},"modified":"2026-05-17T20:00:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T20:00:48","slug":"bitmine-buys-another-197-million-in-ethereum-as-tom-lees-5-eth-strategy-presses-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/?p=166884","title":{"rendered":"BitMine Buys Another $197 Million In Ethereum As Tom Lee\u2019s 5% ETH Strategy Presses On"},"content":{"rendered":"

On-chain data is pointing to another interesting accumulation move by Tom Lee\u2019s<\/a> BitMine Immersion Technologies, with a whale tracker flagging a $197.64 million Ethereum purchase routed through four newly created wallets.<\/p>\n

The latest Ethereum buy has come during a period of weakness, <\/a>which has seen the Ethereum price losing $2,300, and $2,100 is now in focus.<\/p>\n

BitMine Adds 89,026 ETH As Treasury Accumulation Continues<\/h2>\n

On-chain analytics firm Lookonchain flagged a series of transactions suggesting that BitMine, the cryptocurrency mining and treasury firm chaired by prominent investor Tom Lee, may have quietly acquired an additional 89,026 ETH valued at approximately $197.64 million at current market prices. According to Lookonchain<\/a>, the funds were routed through four newly created wallet addresses, which received the ETH from major exchanges Kraken and FalconX.<\/p>\n

Lookonchain noted that the wallets were created shortly before the transfers. The image shared with the transaction data shows a 25,000 ETH transfer from Kraken worth about $55.67 million, three separate 15,000 ETH transfers from FalconX worth about $33.3 million each, and another Kraken transfer of about 19,026 ETH worth $42.28 million.<\/p>\n

BitMine had slowed its ether purchases in the week ending May 11, buying 26,659 ETH worth approximately $63 million, about a quarter of its recent average weekly pace. Chairman Tom Lee said the firm was moderating its buying<\/a> as it approached its long-term goal of owning 5% of Ethereum\u2019s total supply.<\/p>\n\n

The company has spent the past year building one of the most interesting Ethereum treasury strategies. In its May 11 update, BitMine said it held<\/a> 5,206,790 ETH, alongside 201 BTC, $775 million in cash, and other holdings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

BitMine also revealed that about 4.71 million ETH of its holdings were staked,<\/a> worth about $11.1 billion. Interestingly, the staking has so far been profitable, with the company also noting its annualized staking revenues have reached $319 million and a 7-day annualized yield of 2.86% from its own staking operations.<\/p>\n

An Ethereum OG Buys The Dip<\/h2>\n

BitMine is not the only significant player quietly accumulating. On-chain data tracked by Lookonchain reveals that a l<\/a>ong-tenured Ethereum early adopter, known as an OG in the community, has returned to the market amid the recent price weakness.<\/p>\n

According to Lookonchain, this wallet received 11,005 ETH from ShapeShift a decade ago at an entry price of just $3.46 per token. Over a year ago, those holdings were sold for 30.56 million USDC at $2,777, realizing a profit of $30.5 million and an 803x return on the original position.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the market drops, an #EthereumOG<\/a> who made $30.5M(803x return) is buying the dip on $ETH<\/a>!<\/p>\n

10 years ago, this OG received 11,005 $ETH<\/a> from ShapeShift at just $3.46 each.<\/p>\n

Over a year ago, he sold them for 30.56M $USDC<\/a> at $2,777, making $30.5M in profit \u2013 an 803x return.<\/p>\n

Today,\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/4N2o9qNpvd<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Lookonchain (@lookonchain) May 16, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, with ETH prices declining, the same wallet has re-entered the market, deploying 4.26 million USDC to purchase 1,951 ETH at approximately $2,182 per token. Interestingly, Lookonchain noted that the wallet may continue buying.<\/p>\n

At the time of writing, Ethereum is trading at $2,180.<\/p>\n

Featured image from Pexels, chart from TradingView<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On-chain data is pointing to another interesting accumulation move by Tom Lee\u2019s BitMine Immersion Technologies, with a whale tracker flagging a $197.64 million Ethereum purchase routed through four newly created wallets. The latest Ethereum buy has come during a period of weakness, which has seen the Ethereum price losing $2,300, and $2,100 is now in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":166885,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-166884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-discovery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166884"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=166884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/166885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=166884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=166884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=166884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}