On-chain sleuthing suggests Tom Lee’s BitMine Immersion Technologies has quietly added to its Ethereum war chest, with a whale tracker flagging roughly $197.6 million in fresh ETH purchases funneled through four newly created wallets.
Lookonchain, the on-chain analytics account that flagged the moves, says the transactions show a total of 89,026 ETH was received from major over-the-counter venues Kraken and FalconX. The breakdown shared by Lookonchain:
- 25,000 ETH from Kraken (~$55.67 million)
- Three separate 15,000 ETH transfers from FalconX (~$33.3 million each)
- 19,026 ETH from Kraken (~$42.28 million)
The recipient addresses were created shortly before the transfers, suggesting deliberate treasury routing rather than simple exchange activity.
BitMine’s broader strategy
The accumulation comes as part of a year-long push to build an institutional-style ETH treasury. In its May 11 update, BitMine said it holds 5,206,790 ETH, plus 201 BTC, about $775 million in cash and other assets. Roughly 4.71 million of those ETH are staked — a position Lookonchain values at about $11.1 billion — and the company reports annualized staking revenues of $319 million with a recent 7‑day annualized yield of 2.86% from its staking operations.
BitMine did dial back purchases in the week ending May 11, acquiring only 26,659 ETH (~$63 million), roughly a quarter of its recent weekly pace. Chairman Tom Lee has said the firm is moderating buys as it approaches its long-term objective of owning 5% of Ethereum’s total supply.
An Ethereum OG buys the dip
BitMine isn’t the only on-chain buyer. Lookonchain also tracked activity from a long-time Ethereum early adopter — an “OG” wallet that originally received 11,005 ETH from ShapeShift about a decade ago at an entry price of $3.46 per token. That position was sold just over a year ago for 30.56 million USDC at about $2,777 per ETH, netting roughly $30.5 million and an 803x return on the original cost basis.
With prices softer, the same wallet has now redeployed capital: Lookonchain reports it used 4.26 million USDC to buy 1,951 ETH at about $2,182 per token, and the wallet may continue buying.
Context: price and market sentiment
The buy signals arrive amid a pullback in ether, which has recently slipped below $2,300, with $2,100 cited as a nearby level of focus. At the time of reporting, Ethereum was trading around $2,180.
Taken together, the activity underscores continued institutional and long-term-holder interest in ETH even during price weakness — a trend market-watchers will be watching as staking revenue and treasury accumulation strategies shape supply dynamics.
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