Bitcoin Immersion Technologies continued expanding its Ether holdings last week, acquiring the second-largest digital asset despite a prolonged market decline as its large staking operation continues to generate yields.
On Monday, the crypto treasury company reported that it acquired 76,881 ether (ETH) over the past week, potentially reducing its cost averaging basis as ETH briefly dropped below $1,600 during the period. The company has been continuously acquiring Ether during bear markets, regardless of price fluctuations.
BitMine now has 5,620,754 ETH acquired at an average price of $1,718.
BitMine is incurring large unrealized losses on its ETH holdings. Source: dropstab
At current prices, the company’s ETH portfolio is worth about $10.2 billion, according to Dropstab data, although it is at an unrealized loss of about $9 billion. At last look on Monday, Ether was trading at $1,843.69, according to CoinMarketCap data.
Bitmain’s latest purchase brings the company closer to its stated goal of owning 5% of Ether’s total circulating supply of 120.68 million tokens. The company currently controls approximately 4.66% of all ETH.
At the same time, BitMine has staked more than 4.1 million ETH, worth about $8.1 billion at current prices. Staking allows the company to earn protocol rewards by helping to secure the Ethereum network, providing a recurring source of yield even during price weakness.
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Ethereum faces structural hurdles
The crypto treasury model has come under pressure due to the rapid decline in digital asset prices this year. The slowdown has also hit spot ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which recorded net outflows for four consecutive days last week.
Selling pressure has persisted since early May, with daily net outflows exceeding $60 million on several occasions.
BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA) remains the largest US-traded ETH ETF with $4.75 billion in net assets. Its share in the circulating supply of crypto is 2.36%.
ETH’s decline coincides with massive withdrawals from spot ETFs. Source: SoSoValue
However, the challenges for Ethereum go beyond price action.
The network’s layer-2 scaling strategy, designed to deliver faster and cheaper transactions, has come under scrutiny. As more activity shifts to the layer-2 network, the Ethereum mainnet receives less transaction-fee revenue and burns less ETH, potentially weakening its deflationary dynamics.
Internal changes to the Ethereum Foundation have added to the uncertainty. At least nine senior leaders, researchers and key contributors have left the nonprofit so far this year, in one of the largest waves of talent attrition in its history. These departures coincide with the foundation’s organizational makeover and renewed community debate over its governance, strategic direction, and role in Ethereum’s long-term growth.
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