Tom Lee says Bitmine will stop buying ETH at 5% supply target

Bitmine Chairman Tom Lee said the company will stop buying Ethereum once its holdings reach 5% of the token's circulating supply. BMNR shares fell 6% Wednesday after Lee's comments. CoinDesk cited Lee as saying at Token2049 in Singapore Wednesday that Bitmine needs about 100,000 more ETH to reach the target.

Bitmine said Monday that the company bought another $41 million in ETH last week, bringing its holdings to 6,016,414 ETH. The holdings represent roughly 4.9% of the 122.1 million tokens in circulation. At last week's buying pace, Bitmine would need roughly six to seven more weeks to add the remaining 100,000 ETH. Bitmine held $643 million in cash and marketable securities as of Monday, more than twice the amount needed to complete the purchase at current prices.

Lee said Bitmine had expected the accumulation to take five years. Lee said the accumulation took a little over a year and occurred entirely during a bear market.

Bitmine has bought ETH every week since launching its treasury strategy in June 2025, making the company one of the market's steadiest sources of demand. Much of Bitmine's buying occurred at higher prices during last year's bull run. DropsTab puts Bitmine's unrealized losses at $4.5 billion. Crypto analyst Justin Wu said Bitmine focuses on owning a share of total supply rather than pursuing a price target. Wu asked what happens to ETH if multiple companies compete to acquire the same limited supply.

BMNR fell sharply Wednesday after failing to move above approximately $29. BMNR broke below its 20-day exponential moving average (EMA) at $26. BMNR tested trendline support extending from July's $13 low. BMNR's relative strength index (RSI) of 46.62 confirms fading momentum after the stock's recent overbought period. However, BMNR remains above its 50-day, 100-day and 200-day EMAs, keeping the broader uptrend technically intact despite the selloff.

BMNR's 20-day EMA at $26 is a resistance level above the current price. BMNR's next resistance level is $28 if the price recovers. BMNR's trendline support at $24 is a key level for the stock to hold.