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BitMine Slowed Ethereum Purchases as Holdings Reached 5.2 Million ETH

BitMine states that its Ethereum holdings reached 5,206,790 ETH, or about 4.3% of supply, while Arkham says Tom Lee bought roughly $61.36 million in ETH and weekly purchases slowed to about 26,000 ETH.

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Fact Check
All core figures in the claim are directly confirmed by BitMine's own official press release on PR Newswire: 5,206,790 ETH holdings, 4.31% of total ETH supply (rounded to 4.3% in the claim), and the slowdown in weekly purchases. The ~1.9 trillion yen valuation is consistent with ~$12.1 billion at prevailing USD/JPY rates (~157). The 'roughly 26,000 ETH' weekly purchase figure aligns with the 26,659-26,790 ETH range reported across sources including CoinPost and the X post. The claim is corroborated by The Block, FinanceFeeds, CoinPost, and the official PR Newswire release. No conflicting evidence was found. The only imprecision is minor rounding in the weekly purchase figure and the yen conversion, both of which are within normal approximation range.
Summary

BitMine said its Ethereum holdings reached 5,206,790 ETH, equal to about 4.3% of Ethereum’s supply, with one report valuing the position at roughly 1.9 trillion yen and Arkham putting it at about $11.99 billion. The company’s weekly ETH purchases slowed to about 26,000 ETH as of May 11, 2026, down sharply from more than 100,000 ETH in the prior week or roughly 100,000 ETH on average in earlier weeks. Earlier disclosures said BitMine bought 26,659 ETH worth $62 million at an average buy price of $2,366 per ETH, while Arkham reported that BitMine Chairman Tom Lee purchased approximately $61.36 million worth of Ethereum, a figure it said exceeded Strategy Chairman Michael Saylor’s roughly $43 million Bitcoin purchase. BitMine also previously said 4,712,917 ETH had been staked, and Tom Lee said "crypto spring has commenced."

Terms & Concepts
  • Ethereum: A blockchain network that supports smart contracts and decentralized applications, with ETH as its native cryptocurrency.
  • Staking: Committing cryptocurrency to a proof-of-stake network to help validate transactions and support network operations.
  • Blockchain analytics: The process of tracking and interpreting public blockchain data to identify wallet activity, holdings, and transaction flows.