Ether is about to lose a steady buyer as Tom Lee says Bitmine will stop token purchases
Bitmine chairman Tom Lee announced that the firm will cease its aggressive accumulation of Ether once its holdings reach 5% of the circulating supply. The company currently holds approximately 4.9% of all ETH, and the decision marks the end of a significant, long-term buying strategy.
Why it matters
Bitmine has been a major source of steady demand for Ether; its exit from the market could impact price stability and liquidity for the cryptocurrency.
Bitmine chairman Tom Lee, speaking Wednesday at TOKEN2049 in Singapore, said the firm will stop accumulating ETH once its holdings reach 5% of the token’s circulating supply, setting a hard ceiling on a buying spree that has made the company one of the world’s largest ETH holders.
“We only need to get another 100,000 ETF to get to 5%,” he said. “Now we're going to stop,” he added.
Bitmine is already almost at that threshold. In its latest update , the company said Monday that it bought another $41 million in ETH last week, bringing its holdings to 6,016,414 ETH, or roughly 4.9% of the 122.1 million tokens in circulation. At ether’s Wednesday price around $2,580, that stack is worth about $15.5 billion.
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