BitMine’s $1B repurchase plan favors shares over more ETH — for now

BitMine Immersion, a Bitcoin mining company and Ether's largest publicly traded holder, has announced the approval of an open-ended $1 billion stock buyback program to repurchase its outstanding shares through open market or negotiated transactions.

With shares trading below the company’s net asset value (NAV), BitMine has opted to repurchase its stock rather than allocating more capital to expand its Ether (ETH) reserve, at least for now.

The company’s NAV per share is estimated at $22.76, witth crypto holdings of 625,000 ETH and 192 Bitcoin (BTC), according to a press release on Monday. Rather than continue accumulating ETH at elevated prices, BitMine is using the NAV gap as a trigger for buybacks, aiming to increase per-share value and investor exposure to Ethereum reserves.

“In our road to achieving ‘the alchemy of 5%’ of ETH, there may be times when the best expected return of our capital is to acquire our shares,” said Tom Lee, BitMine's chairman since July 8.

BitMine holds $401.4 million in unencumbered cash, which could fund a significant portion of the buyback directly.

ETH Treasury Strategy: “The Alchemy of 5%”

After announcing its goal on June 30, 2025, to acquire and stake up to 5% of the total Ethereum supply, BitMine appointed Tom Lee as chairman, who has since outlined the company’s long-term ETH strategy through a monthly “Chairman’s Message” titled The Alchemy of 5%.

In the most recent update, Lee called Ethereum “the most important macro trade for the next decade,” and described stablecoins as “the ChatGPT moment for crypto.” Since about half of all stablecoins are issued on Ethereum, Lee believes mainstream adoption of stablecoins will drive the continued price appreciation of ETH.

The company is effectively betting that Ethereum will become foundational to the future of finance, and that owning a meaningful share of its supply will deliver long-term value.

In addition to its ETH holdings, BitMine continues to generate operating income through Bitcoin mining, using immersion cooling technology to improve efficiency.

Sharplink acquires more Ethereum

While BitMine currently holds the title of Ethereum's largest publicly traded holder, it is not without competition. Sharplink Gaming Inc., a digital entertainment company, announced today that it has acquired an additional 77,209.58 ETH, bringing its total holding to 438,190 ETH, or around $1.6 billion.

On Monday, Sharplink’s chairman, Joe Lubin, told Bloomberg that the company will “be able to accumulate more Ether per fully diluted share — much faster than any other Ethereum-based project.” However, he added that the company’s approach to acquiring more ETH is cautious. “No matter what we do, we’re going to keep leverage very much in check,” Lubin said. 

The news comes as a Standard Chartered Bank report reveals that public companies have purchased 1% of all ETH in circulation since June. The report’s author, Geoffrey Kendrick, said, “ETH treasury companies are just getting started; they will likely 10x from here.”

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