Tom Lee’s Ethereum Treasury Owns 3.6M ETH but Bitmine Stock Falls 81%: What Went Wrong?

Key Insights:

• The dip in Bitmine stock mirrors widespread losses across digital asset treasuries, many of which have fallen 50–98% since early summer.
• Despite ETH rising 10% over the same period, BitMine’s poorly timed, leveraged purchases led to billions in unrealized losses.
• Even with Tom Lee as chairman, BitMine’s strategy of using public equity to fund crypto accumulation failed, highlighting the broader collapse of crypto-focused treasury firms in 2025.

Bitmine stock (BMNR) has plunged 81% in less than five months, erasing billions in shareholder value even as the company amassed 3.63 million ether (ETH) tokens, roughly 3% of the cryptocurrency’s circulating supply.

This stark disconnect unfolded amid a broader crypto market pullback, with ETH down 15% year-to-date through November 25, 2025, according to TradingView data.

While Tom Lee, the company’s chairman and Fundstrat Global Advisors co-founder, doubled down on ETH purchases last week—adding 69,822 tokens worth about $200 million at prevailing prices—the move failed to stem the tide for Bitmine stock.

Trading at $26.00 on November 24, per The Coin Republic, shares remain 84% below their July peak of $161, highlighting the perils of leveraged digital asset treasuries (DATs) in volatile times.

BitMine Stock: The Ethereum Treasury Buildup

The transformation of BitMine from a Bitcoin mining outfit to an Ethereum treasury began in earnest in June 2025, shortly after Lee joined as chairman.

The company, previously known for immersion-cooled mining rigs, shifted gears by raising capital through public equity and debt to scoop up ETH.

By November 3, holdings hit 3.4 million tokens, valued at $13.7 billion, including cash and equity stakes. Lee himself noted in the filing, “We increased our cash holdings to $389 million… and acquired 82,353 ETH tokens over the past week, pushing our ETH holdings to 3.4 million, or 2.8% of the supply.”

The pace accelerated. On November 10, BitMine added 110,288 ETH for nearly $400 million, lifting totals to 3.5 million tokens and $13.2 billion in assets, per another company press release.

By November 17, purchases of 54,000 ETH brought the stash to 3.6 million, closing in on the 3% supply threshold. The latest haul on November 24 pushed it to 3.63 million ETH, with $800 million in cash bolstering a $11.2 billion portfolio, according to the firm’s update.

Backed by heavyweights like ARK Invest’s Cathie Wood, Founders Fund, and Pantera Capital, BitMine aims for 5% of ETH supply, an “alchemy of 5%,” as Lee calls it in filings.

Yet this aggressive accumulation came at a cost. Poorly timed buys, often at peaks above $3,800 per ETH in early fall, left the treasury underwater.

As of November 21, unrealized losses topped $4 billion on an average cost basis of $3,850–$4,050 per token, analysts at 10x Research estimated in a report.

ETH’s 27% monthly drop exacerbated the pain, turning what should have been a modest 10% rally since June into a multi-billion-dollar hole for Bitmine stockholders.

Bitmine Stock: From Euphoria to Evaporation

Bitmine stock soared to $161 mere days after its ETH pivot announcement in late June, fueled by hype around public companies crowdsourcing crypto treasuries.

Yahoo Finance charts show average daily volume spiking to $1.6 billion by mid-November, ranking BMNR as the 50th most-traded U.S. stock, per Fundstrat data in the November 24 PR.

But the bubble burst fast. By November 24, shares traded in a $24.33–$26.77 range, with a $7.4 billion market cap—down from a year-high implying over $40 billion, The Coin Republic reported.

This 81% wipeout mirrors a sector-wide rout. Crypto’s total market cap shed 15% in 2025, but DATs fared worse. BitMine’s chart, as plotted on TradingView’s BMNR stock symbol (updated November 25, 2025), shows no divergence from peers: a steep decline post-July, with RSI indicators flashing oversold yet no rebound.

“Bitmine stock has traded average daily dollar volume of $1.6 billion (5-day average, as of Nov 21, 2025), ranking #50 in the US,” the company boasted in its latest filing, but high liquidity hasn’t translated to stability. Instead, it amplified sell-offs as institutions hedged via proxies like BMNR.

Peer Pressure: DATs in Freefall

BitMine isn’t alone in torching value. Michael Saylor’s Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy, NASDAQ: MSTR) saw shares drop 56% since the summer, 1.6 times worse than Bitcoin’s 21% decline over the same stretch.

MSTR, holding 649,870 BTC worth $56 billion at an average cost of $74,433, paused buys last week after six straight weeks of accumulation, trading at a mere 1.16x net asset value (NAV)—the cycle’s lowest multiple.

Other ETH treasuries echo the pain. SharpLink Gaming (SBET) trades at 0.8x NAV on 861,586 ETH, while Nakamoto Portfolio plunged 98%.

Twenty One, Sixty Six Capital, and Upexi shed at least 50% since early summer. Bitmine stock, at 0.7x NAV exemplifies this: a $43.10 per-share implied value versus reality.

Institutional outflows compound the issue. Wall Street trimmed $5.38 billion in MSTR exposure in Q3 alone, using it as a Bitcoin hedge amid limited derivatives.

JPMorgan warned on November 21 that MSTR, and by extension, Ethereum plays like BitMine, risk delisting from major indices if crypto dominance exceeds thresholds, potentially triggering billions in passive selling.

Tom Lee’s Bullish Blind Spot?

Tom Lee, a self-proclaimed “permabull” since Fundstrat’s 2017 crypto coverage, chairs BitMine with unyielding optimism.

“Crypto prices have not recovered since the liquidation event on Oct 10th… This is the equivalent of QT for crypto,” Lee wrote in the November chairman’s message, likening it to 2022’s six-to-eight-week drag.

His track record? Spotty. Lee’s wildly optimistic BTC and ETH calls, $100,000 Bitcoin by mid-2025, per CNBC—missed as prices stalled below $90,000.

The DAT playbook—issue shares or debt to buy crypto, worked in bull runs but crumbled in 2025’s “disastrous” environment, as the initial story framed it.

X user @CryptosR_Us noted on November 24, “BitMine buys the dip; adds $200M in $ETH… $BMNR is currently trading at 80% less than its July peak.”

Bitmine (BMNR) stock could rebound if Bitcoin tests $90,000, or Ethereum hits $3,900 by month-end, per market forecasts.

Fusaka’s scalability boost and tokenization tailwinds, which Lee touted at a November 10 NYSE summit, might unlock value.

Yet structural risks loom: delisting threats, $4.2 billion losses per @ArthurSXAI on X, and a January 15, 2026, shareholder meeting at Wynn Las Vegas that could force buybacks.

For now, Bitmine (BMNR) stock embodies DAT’s double-edged sword, massive Ethereum exposure without the upside. Investors eye $2,500 as Lee’s downside floor, but history warns: conviction costs. As crypto’s 2025 hangover lingers, BitMine’s saga tests whether treasuries can evolve beyond leverage traps.