Bitmine says ETH holdings near 5% supply target as whale buying rises

Bitmine Immersion Technologies said in its July chairman's message that it holds about 5.7 million ETH, roughly 4.8% of Ethereum's approximately 120.7 million supply and 96% of the way to its stated goal of reaching 5% within 12 months. Thomas Lee said the company does not want to accelerate concentration beyond 5% for now and plans to shift more capital toward staking, validator infrastructure, ecosystem funding and financial-services investments tied to Ethereum adoption. Separately, Lookonchain reported that large investors withdrew 81,898 ETH from exchanges between July 15 and July 17, including activity by newly created wallets, Abraxas Capital, Arthur Hayes and Bitmine's purchase of 6,000 ETH from FalconX on July 15. Lee said Ethereum could become a settlement layer for future finance and AI-driven commerce, while cautioning that higher valuation scenarios cited from Joseph Lubin and Etherealize were not his explicit price target.