BitMine stakes 86,400 ETH as token portfolio reaches $3.33B

Today, Tom Lee’s BitMine Immersion Technologies increased its Ethereum holdings by staking an additional 86,400 $ETH, or $266.3 million in a single action. The staking strengthens Bitmine’s standing as a significant participant in the cryptocurrency staking industry, bringing the amount staked to 1,080,512 ETH, or approximately $3.33 billion.

According to Arkham data, the Ether treasury company made several small deposits to Ethereum’s BatchDeposit contract on Sunday. On-chain data indicate that at the current price of $ 3,091.40 ETH, BitMine now holds approximately 2.738 million ETH, worth approximately $8.46 billion.

BitMine expands Ethereum staking amid growth

The recent staking follows the Ether treasury firm’s staking of 82,560 Ethereum, worth roughly $259 million, five days ago. Similar to the current staking, the firm made larger deposits on Ethereum’s BatchDeposit contract.

After staking 82,560 tokens, the entire amount of Ethereum staked by BitMine increased to 544,064 Ether, worth about $1.62 billion. According to on-chain analyst Lookonchain, the corporation began staking Ether on December 26 and transferred approximately 74,880 ETH tokens, worth around $219 million, to staking-related contracts on the Ethereum network.

The 74,880 ETH deposit marked Bitmine’s first attempt to generate revenue from staking its assets. Similar to Strategy’s Bitcoin buying program, the company built up its Ethereum holdings through methodical acquisitions.

Bitmine’s decision to stake implies that the company plans to hold Ethereum for an extended period rather than aggressively trading the position.

The vigorous staking push has helped drive Ethereum’s validator admission queue to approximately 1,815,746 Ethereum. 

According to the Ethereum Validator Queue on the blockchain explorer, new validators must wait an estimated 31 days and 13 hours to become active. Exit activity remains comparatively low, with little over 192,000 Ethereum available for withdrawal.

Amid this growing validator backlog, BitMine began preparing its own staking infrastructure to enter the market last November strategically.

On November 21, last year, BitMine announced its intention to utilize an internal infrastructure called the Made-in-America Validator Network (MAVAN) to begin staking Ether in the first quarter of 2026. The company chose three institutional staking providers for an initial trial before growing the program, deploying a small amount of Ethereum to assess performance, security, and operational dependability.

Ethereum’s network statistics indicate that about 35.5 million Ethereum, or about 29% of the total supply, are currently staked. The yearly staking yield is approximately 2.54%.

In an X post, Abdul Rehman, CEO of DeFi at layer-1 blockchain Monad, stated that Ether’s price doubled quickly after the entry and exit queue flipped in June. 2026 is “going to be a movie,” according to his prediction.

Lee predicts Ethereum surge amid market recovery

As of December 29 of last year, Bitmine reported a total holding of 4.11 million Ethereum, 192 Bitcoins, and a $23 million interest in Eightco assets. BitMine’s total crypto and cash assets amount to nearly $13.2 billion, with over $1 billion in cash. 

The corporation is approximately two-thirds of the way toward achieving its “alchemy of 5%” goal, with the ether position accounting for approximately 3.41% of the network’s circulating supply of over 120.7 million ETH.

Mr. Lee expressed a bullish outlook for Ethereum in a statement on December 26, predicting that Ethereum might reach $7,000 to $9,000 in early 2026. According to Lee, the future of cryptocurrency “is still really good for the next five to ten years.”

Lee referred to tokenization as Ethereum’s main growth engine. He projected that the token would eventually reach $20,000 as Ethereum competes with established payment methods.

In response to the October 10 reversal in cryptocurrency last year, the chairman described it as “a liquidation event that was similar to 2022 when FTX collapsed.” According to Lee, it took the markets eight weeks to recover and stabilize.

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