Ethereum Price Jumps on Iran Optimism as Tom Lee’s BitMine Adds to $10 Billion Stash

Leading Ethereum treasury company BitMine Immersion Technologies has continued its aggressive ETH accumulation strategy, purchasing 65,341 ETH last week and bringing its total holdings to over 4.66 million tokens—$10.17 billion worth—according to a new SEC filing.

Meanwhile, Chairman Tom Lee said he’s been positioning the company for what he believes is an approaching crypto market recovery. (Disclosure: Lee is one of several angel investors in prediction market Myriad, which is operated by Decrypt’s parent company, Dastan.)

And indeed, Ethereum is up on the day, rising about 5% over the last 24 hours to a recent price of $2,180. The price of Ethereum and other top assets surged Monday morning following optimistic comments from President Trump, who said he would delay bombings on Iran following constructive peace talks with the nation.

The latest BitMine purchase, valued at approximately $142 million based on current Ethereum prices, extends what has become the largest institutional ETH treasury position. BitMine said in a press release that it also holds $1.1 billion in cash, along with about $14 million worth of Bitcoin.

The company is now sitting on a paper, or unrealized, loss of approximately $7 billion, according to crypto market intelligence platform DropsTab.

This new ETH purchase comes as Lee has expressed confidence that the crypto market is nearing the end of its current downturn.

“If we asked any investor, they can list all the reasons why they’re worried and what could go wrong, and that gets priced in very quickly,” the BitMine chairman said during an appearance on CNBC on Friday. “But we have to know that that’s counterbalanced. Opportunities have always emerged. When we look at the last eight major war events, the market was always bottoming very early into the conflict.”

According to data cited in market reports, BitMine’s ETH holdings now represent approximately 3.81% of the total Ethereum supply.

Beyond spot accumulation, the company has also deployed significant portions of its holdings into staking operations. BitMine has staked holdings totaling 3,142,291 ETH, generating additional yield while maintaining long-term exposure to the asset. Once its treasury is fully staked, the firm expects to earn approximately $272 million per year in yield.

This accumulation has occurred against a backdrop of broader market uncertainty, with user sentiment on Myriad—a prediction market platform owned by Decrypt’s parent company Dastan—climbing higher on pessimism amid wider equity market volatility. CoinMarketCap’s Fear and Greed Index currently sits at 35, signaling Fear, at the time of the writing.

However, Alternative.me’s Crypto Fear and Greed Index sits at 8, or Extreme Fear, at the time of writing.