Tom Lee’s BitMine Adds $108 Million in Ethereum, But BMNR Dives Amid Trade War Turmoil

Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) added around 35,268 ETH valued at more than $108 million to its leading ETH treasury last week, though its stock has plunged so far on Tuesday as markets react to U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest tariff threats against trade partners.

The acquisition brings BitMine’s collective holdings to more than 4.2 million ETH, nearly 3.5% of the entire Ethereum circulating supply, valued at more than $12.8 billion. The firm also holds 192 Bitcoin worth $17.4 million, and $979 million in cash. 

“Ethereum’s price ratio to Bitcoin, or ETHBTC, has been steadily climbing since mid-October. In our view, this reflects investors recognizing tokenization and other use cases being developed by Wall Street are being built on Ethereum,” said Chairman Tom Lee, in a statement.

As BitMine continues to grow its ETH holdings, the firm has also been adding to its pile of staked ETH, which grew over the last week from around 1.25 million ETH to 1.83 million ETH or about $5.5 billion—nearly 44% of its entire stash. 

The firm anticipates it will ultimately earn more than $1 million per day when its entire portfolio is staked. Ethereum holders receive staking rewards when pledging their ETH to the network, which helps support its proof-of-stake design—and BitMine has the most ETH of any company that it can stake to earn rewards.

“Bitmine has staked more ETH than other entities in the world,” said Lee. “At scale (when Bitmine’s ETH is fully staked by MAVAN and its staking partners), the ETH staking fee is $374 million annually (using 2.81% CESR), or greater than $1 million per day,” he added. 

The firm currently works with three staking providers, but will eventually make use of its own staking solution, “The Made in America Validator Network” (MAVAN), that it anticipates it will roll out in early 2026. 

“This will be the ‘best-in-class’ solution offering secure staking infrastructure,” said Lee. 

Shares of BMNR have fallen around 7.22% on Tuesday as broader markets and crypto assets slide as President Trump threatened new tariffs against seven European Union countries and the U.K. over their resistance to his pursuit of Greenland. Trump also threatened up to a 200% tariff on French wines, further rekindling trade war concerns.

Uncertainty following his latest threats and ahead of Trump’s Wednesday Davos speech has also hit market indices like the S&P 500, which has fallen more than 1.1%, with the Nasdaq falling closer to 1.5% on Tuesday.

The second-largest crypto asset by market cap recently changed hands at $3,026—39% below its August all-time high of $4,946, and down nearly 6% in the last day alone.

Lee, who has called for a “100x Ethereum supercycle,” recently predicted a long-term target of $250,000 per ETH. The move would require ETH to jump more than 8,115% from its current state.