BitMine sets 5% Ether supply ‘hard cap’ as accumulation target nears

BitMine Immersion Technologies has set a firm ceiling on its Ether accumulation, Chairman Tom Lee announced during a Token2049 keynote in Singapore. The company will stop buying Ether once its holdings reach 5% of the cryptocurrency’s total supply, a threshold it described as a "hard cap." Lee said BitMine is close to that level, with around 6 million ETH on its balance sheet, roughly 4.9% of supply, and needs about 100,000 ETH more to hit the limit. Lee said most of BitMine’s Ether was purchased during a period he characterized as a crypto bear market, which the company used as an opportunity to build its position while prices were lower. He framed the decision to stop accumulating as part of the firm’s broader capital strategy: ending purchases removes the need to raise further capital for additional Ether buys. BitMine has previously raised funds and used capital markets to expand its crypto treasury. In June the company launched a $300 million perpetual preferred stock offering, and by early August it had repurchased 16.1 million common shares under a $4 billion buyback program. Lee has suggested in past comments that the company might revisit accumulation levels as late as 2027, but at Token2049 he presented the 5% limit as a firm boundary for now. Even after direct purchases cease, BitMine’s stake in Ether could still change through staking rewards. Lee has said the company could sell ETH earned from staking if needed to prevent its share of total supply from rising above 5%.