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BitMine May Slow Ethereum Buying After Holdings Reach 5.18 Million ETH

Chairman Tom Lee said at Consensus 2026 in Miami on May 7 that BitMine may reduce the pace of purchases after accumulating more than 4.29% of Ethereum’s total supply.

ETH

Fact Check
All key elements of the claim are confirmed by multiple independent, high-quality sources. The official Bitmine PR Newswire press release (via Morningstar) confirms exactly 5,180,131 ETH held (4.29% of total supply) as of May 3, 2026. CoinDesk's May 7 article directly reports Tom Lee's statement at Consensus 2026 in Miami that Bitmine may slow ETH purchases as it nears its 5% goal. Unchained Crypto and Yahoo Finance provide additional corroboration with direct quotes from Lee at the same event. The claim's figure of 5.18 million ETH, the 4.29% supply figure, the event location (Miami), the event name (Consensus 2026), the date (May 7), and the identity of the speaker (Chairman Tom Lee) are all verified. The minor residual uncertainty (0.03) reflects only the possibility of minor misattribution or paraphrasing in the original claim's framing.
Summary

BitMine said it may slow its Ethereum purchases after its holdings climbed to 5.18 million ETH, representing more than 4.29% of Ethereum’s total supply. Chairman Tom Lee made the comment on May 7 at Consensus 2026 in Miami. The company’s Ethereum position was valued at about 1.9 trillion yen. The disclosure highlights the scale of BitMine’s accumulation and indicates that further buying may become more measured as its share of circulating assets grows.

Terms & Concepts
  • Ethereum: A blockchain network that supports smart contracts (self-executing blockchain code) and decentralized applications.
  • ETH: The native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain, used for transactions, network fees, and other on-chain activity.
  • Total supply: The total amount of a cryptocurrency that currently exists, a key metric for assessing concentration of ownership.