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

Odaily reported on July 13th, 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 the supply), launching MAVAN (the largest solo staking operator), the "Moonshot" investment plan (strategically laying out ecosystem projects), partnering with the Ethereum Foundation 2.0 (a non-commercial gesture), issuing its first ETH preferred shares (with a current yield lower than MSTR), listing on the main board of the New York Stock Exchange, and being included in the Russell 1000 Large-Cap Index.

Bitmine's future plans include: gradually accumulating ETH to 5% of the total supply (a threshold Vitalik believes no single entity should cross), funding EF spin-off 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 of the AI era."