BitMine's Ethereum treasury approaches the 5% holding cap, and it will not accumulate coins indefinitely
- Core View: BitMine's Ethereum holdings are approaching the strategic cap of 5% of total supply. Once reached, it will stop increasing holdings on the secondary market, and position growth will shift to reliance on staking rewards. However, staking-generated tokens also create management challenges for the hard cap.
- Key Elements:
- As of October 4, BitMine held 6,016,414 ETH, accounting for 4.9% of total supply, only about 88,586 ETH short of its 5% target.
- At a purchase pace of 15,112 ETH added per week, it is expected to hit the cap in mid-November; if accelerated to 20,000 ETH per week, it would be completed in about 4.4 weeks.
- Completing the remaining purchases at an estimated ETH price of $2,500 would require about $221 million. The company holds $643 million in cash and marketable securities, providing ample liquidity.
- Lookonchain reported that BitMine appears to have purchased another 12,500 ETH (about $33.65 million). If confirmed, the gap would shrink to about 76,086 ETH.
- As of October 4, the company had staked about 5.07 million ETH, representing 84% of its holdings, with estimated annualized returns of $363 million; full staking could yield annualized returns of about $431 million.
- Staking rewards continuously increase the token count, which could push holdings beyond the 5% cap even if market purchases stop. The company has not yet determined how to handle excess tokens.
BitMine Immersion Technologies Chairman Tom Lee said that once BitMine's Ethereum holdings reach 5% of the coin's total supply, the company will stop accumulating, a strategy that has made BitMine the largest corporate holder of Ethereum.
Speaking at the TOKEN2049 conference in Singapore, Lee said BitMine is approaching that cap and will not continue hoarding indefinitely. He stated:
"We only need to buy another 100,000 ETH to reach a 5% share."
Notably, the company is actually closer to the target than Lee's estimate suggests. According to the latest disclosure, as of October 4, BitMine held 6,016,414 ETH, representing 4.9% of the 122.1 million ETH total supply cited in the article. In other words, BitMine needs approximately 88,586 more ETH to reach its goal of 5% of total supply.
Source: Bitmine official website, October 7, 2026, Chairman's message video
Assuming an ETH price of $2,500, completing the remaining purchases would require approximately $221 million. BitMine has disclosed holding $643 million in cash and marketable securities, giving it sufficient liquidity to cover the purchase while still retaining most of its funds.
BitMine on Track to Hit 5% Cap Within Weeks
Even if BitMine slows its accumulation pace, at its latest buying rate it could still reach Tom Lee's 5% cap before year-end. In the week ending October 4, the company added 15,112 ETH. At that pace, purchasing the remaining 88,586 ETH would take approximately 5.9 weeks, with the threshold expected to be reached in mid-November.
If the pace accelerates, the timeline shortens further: buying 20,000 ETH per week would take about 4.4 weeks; if slowed to 10,000 ETH per week, it would take 8.9 weeks, pushing the milestone to early December.
These are all projections, not established company plans. BitMine has not committed to a fixed weekly purchase quota, and changes in Ethereum's total supply would also alter the number of tokens corresponding to the 5% holding threshold.
Additionally, there are signs that BitMine may have already completed another round of purchases after its latest disclosed data. Blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain reported on October 7 that the company appeared to have purchased another 12,500 ETH worth $33.65 million through BitGo. This transaction has not yet been included in BitMine's official holdings update and therefore was not factored into the earlier timeline calculations. If this transaction is confirmed, the remaining gap would shrink to approximately 76,086 ETH, and the company would reach Lee's cap earlier than originally estimated.
This means BitMine is about to face a strategic pivot. Once constrained by the 5% cap, the company's ETH holdings growth will rely primarily on staking rewards rather than continued open-market buying.
Staking Yield to Replace Open-Market Accumulation
BitMine has already made staking a key source of yield for its Ethereum treasury. As of October 4, the company had staked approximately 5.07 million ETH, representing 84% of its total holdings, with this position estimated to generate up to $363 million in annualized yield. BitMine estimates that under a 2.63% annualized yield assumption, staking all its ETH would boost annualized yield to approximately $431 million. As the company becomes unable to continue expanding its position through market purchases, the importance of staking income will continue to rise.
However, staking produces tokens, which also poses a challenge to Lee's hard cap. Staking rewards will continuously add tokens to BitMine's holdings. As holdings approach 5% of Ethereum's total supply, even without any further open-market purchases, staking rewards would push holdings past that threshold.
BitMine has not yet determined how to handle these excess tokens. Options include: reserving less room for accumulation, adjusting how staking rewards are handled, or selling some ETH when necessary to keep the holding ratio below the cap.
The 5% target threshold itself will also fluctuate with Ethereum's total supply: if ETH supply contracts, the number of tokens corresponding to the 5% cap would decrease; if supply expands, it could accommodate more tokens.
As the accumulation phase draws to a close, BitMine faces a new treasury management challenge. Over the past year or so, the company's focus has been on continuously buying ETH; in the future, to maintain the holding cap set by Lee, it will need to manage the staking tokens continuously generated by its existing treasury.
