Tom Lee: Bitmine to Gradually Accumulate ETH to 5% of Supply Before ETH 2.0 Era

Odaily reported on July 13, in Tokyo, at WebX 2026 hosted by Coinpost, Bitmine chairman Tom Lee delivered a speech titled "Ethereum: The Antidote to the Wealth Horror Valley." He introduced Bitmine's first-year achievements, including: accumulating 5.74 million ETH (4.8% of supply), launching MAVAN (the largest solo staking operator), the "Moonshot" investment plan (strategic layout of ecosystem projects), reaching a partnership with EF 2.0 (non-commercial stance), the first issuance of ETH preferred shares (current yield lower than MSTR), listing on the New York Stock Exchange main board, and inclusion in the Russell 1000 large-cap index.

Bitmine's future plans include: gradually accumulating ETH to 5% of supply (Vitalik does not want any single institution to hold more than this threshold), funding EF derivative projects, identifying and investing in crypto-finance unicorns, and strengthening the Ethereum ecosystem.

At the same time, Tom Lee envisions ETH entering the 2.0 phase—"ETH is money"—stating that "under the leadership of the new foundation, ETH has the potential to become the settlement layer for the AI era."