Ethereum is having a very different kind of September. While much of the market watches price charts, Bitmine Immersion Technologies is steadily adding to its already enormous ETH stash — and its latest purchase brings the institutional story back into focus.
The Ethereum treasury firm bought 27,562 ETH last week for about $75.2 million, based on Monday’s price of $2,727. The purchase pushed Bitmine’s total holdings to 5,983,940 ETH, or roughly 4.9% of Ethereum’s 122.1 million circulating supply.
That puts the company within striking distance of a very specific target: owning 5% of all ETH.
Bitmine has been accumulating at a similar pace in recent weeks. The company says it has purchased Ethereum every week since June 2025, when it shifted toward its crypto treasury strategy. At the current rate, it could reach its 5% objective within the next couple of months.
The company is not simply sitting on those coins, either. Around 5 million ETH, equivalent to about 85% of its holdings, has been staked. Based on current yields, Bitmine projects roughly $357 million in annual staking revenue.
Its stock also reacted to the latest move. Bitmine shares were up 5.8% in premarket trading, extending an 8% jump from Friday as Ethereum climbed overnight to its highest level since late January.
Ethereum Is Starting to Get Institutional Attention
The buying comes alongside a broader argument from Bitmine Chairman Tom Lee that institutions may have spent much of 2026 looking in the wrong direction.
According to Lee, investors leaned heavily toward artificial intelligence-related stocks earlier in the year, leaving crypto relatively underrepresented in institutional portfolios.
Ethereum’s recent performance makes that gap harder to ignore. Since the end of June, ETH has gained 76%, while the S&P 500 has risen only 2%.
That divergence, Lee argued, could prompt fund managers to reconsider their allocations as the year moves into its final quarter.
“Given institutions have underweighted crypto in 2026, partially due to the outperformance of AI stocks in early 2026, we expect institutions to substantially increase their exposure in the final three months of 2026,” Lee said.
His thesis extends beyond price performance. Lee also cited tokenization and the increasing use of blockchain technology in AI as longer-term reasons institutions could become more active in crypto.
For now, Bitmine’s strategy offers a concrete example of that institutional interest. Its holdings are approaching a notable threshold, its ETH is generating staking income, and Ethereum’s recent rally has made the asset harder for traditionally cautious investors to overlook.