BitMine Defies The Selloff With A $43M Ethereum Bet, Strategy Blinks

BitMine Immersion Technologies added about $43 million in Ethereum (ETH) last week, while rival Strategy kept its Bitcoin (BTC) buying on pause.

BitMine Ethereum Buying Slows

The Ethereum treasury firm bought 27,084 tokens last week, a purchase valued near $43 million even as prices fell. That pushed its holdings above 5.7 million ETH, worth roughly $8.9 billion. The buy ranked as BitMine's smallest since early May, sliding from 52,203 ETH the prior week.

The position equals about 4.7% of Ethereum's circulating supply, leaving BitMine just shy of its 5% target. The firm also holds 206 Bitcoin and counts about $9.8 billion across crypto, cash and investments, with more than 4.7 million ETH staked for yield.

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Tom Lee Blames Window Dressing

Chairman Tom Lee tied the latest weakness to quarter-end portfolio shuffling rather than any change in fundamentals. The buying pace has cooled sharply after months of heavy accumulation. Even so, BitMine stays among the few large treasuries still adding through the downturn.

"This past week was a challenging one for crypto investors as ETH fell by 8%," Lee said in a statement. He blamed "window dressing" as investors trimmed assets that have dropped over the past three months.

Michael Saylor's Strategy struck a different note. The firm bought no Bitcoin last week and unveiled a "Digital Credit Capital Framework." Its board cleared sales of up to $1.25 billion in BTC and lifted the STRC preferred dividend to 12%.

ETH And Bitcoin Quarter Losses

Both coins are sliding toward a third straight quarterly loss, a run Bitcoin last posted in 2022. ETH has dropped about 25% this quarter and recently traded near $1,564, far below its $4,946 record, while Bitcoin slipped under $59,000 last week before steadying.

The selloff battered BitMine's stock too, with shares closing Friday near $13.56, down roughly 92% from a 52-week high of $161 set after the Ethereum pivot last June.

Strategy has not been spared, its market value slipping below the worth of its 847,363 Bitcoin late last week. That gap, a level watched closely by investors, helped push the firm toward its new cash-raising plan.

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