BitMine may slow ETH buying pace as it nears 5% supply goal

BitMine Chairman Tom Lee said the company may slow the pace of its Ethereum purchases as it moves closer to its goal of holding 5% of the total ETH supply.

Lee made the comments Thursday at Consensus 2026 in Miami, saying BitMine is evaluating whether it wants to keep accumulating ETH at its current pace. He said the company could reach its 5% target in about six weeks if it continues buying at the same rate.

I do think we’re going to slow down our pace of buying, Lee said on stage. I’m not sure we want to get to 5% too quickly.

BitMine has been one of the most aggressive Ethereum treasury buyers in the public market. The company said Monday that it held 5.18 million ETH as of May 3, representing 4.29% of Ethereum’s total supply of 120.7 million ETH. BitMine said it was 86% of the way toward what it calls the Alchemy of 5%, after buying 101,745 ETH in the previous week.

Lee said BitMine may now accumulate at a slower pace because there are other things to be doing in crypto. He pointed to the company’s recent move to the New York Stock Exchange, its $4 billion share repurchase authorization, and its growing staking operation as areas that could shape capital allocation.

BitMine said it had 4.36 million staked ETH as of May 3, worth about $10.2 billion at $2,336 per ETH. Lee said the company’s annualized staking revenue had reached $297 million, while its own staking operations generated a 2.91% annualized seven day yield.

The potential slowdown marks a shift from BitMine’s recent buying spree, which has made it the largest Ethereum treasury company in the world and the second largest global crypto treasury behind Strategy. The company said its total crypto, cash, and moonshot holdings stood at $13.1 billion, including 200 BTC, $700 million in cash, and equity stakes in Beast Industries and Eightco Holdings.

Lee also reiterated his broader Ethereum thesis, saying the asset continues to benefit from Wall Street tokenization and the rise of agentic AI systems that need public and neutral blockchains. BitMine has framed ETH as its primary treasury reserve asset and has tied its strategy to staking, tokenization, and decentralized finance infrastructure.

ETH traded near $2,300 at press time, down about 2% on the day. BMNR traded near $21.97, giving BitMine a market capitalization of about $11.8 billion.