On Tuesday, Bitmine Immersion Technologies officially upgraded from the NYSE American market to the New York Stock Exchange’s main board. This move propelled it into the ranks of the largest listed companies in the United States, marking a milestone for cryptocurrency assets in the core areas of traditional capital markets.

Chairman Tom Lee immediately announced an expansion of the share repurchase plan from $1 billion to $4 billion—this initiative ranks among the top ten largest repurchase programs disclosed by companies in 2026. It is by no means a symbolic gesture but rather a response to the stringent requirements of the NYSE main board regarding market value, shareholder equity, and profitability.

Bitmine meets these criteria almost entirely through its holdings of Ethereum. As of April 6, Bitmine held 4.803 million Ethereum coins on its balance sheet, worth approximately $10.2 billion at current market prices, accounting for 3.98% of the total Ethereum supply.

This holding volume means that it is only 80% short of its stated goal of owning 5% of the total Ethereum supply, indicating that this is not merely a defensive asset allocation but rather a strategic effort to significantly influence the global supply structure of Ethereum.

Among its holdings, 3.3 million Ethereum coins are staked through its self-developed MAVAN platform, generating a stable annual income of $196 million. This has successfully transformed what were originally passive crypto assets into an operational model with active revenue-generation capabilities.

With its total assets, including $864 million in cash, reaching $11.4 billion, Bitmine has surpassed most of its competitors to become the second-largest cryptocurrency holder in the world, second only to MicroStrategy.

Its funding strategy is highly aggressive—in just the first week of April, the company acquired 71,252 Ethereum coins at the fastest pace since the end of 2025. This continuous increase in investment amid market uncertainty reflects both the management’s absolute confidence in the medium-term value of Ethereum and their determination to achieve their 5% supply target regardless of short-term price fluctuations.

Tom Lee described this large-scale purchase as the use of “a tool for maintaining value during times of crisis” and noted that since the outbreak of the geopolitical conflict on February 28, the price of Ethereum had risen by 6.8%. However, this macro narrative carries the risk of selective interpretation, as the reference date only corresponds to the start of the conflict, not the beginning of a long-term historical period.

In fact, despite Bitmine’s positive performance, the transaction ratio in the entire Ethereum market has remained below 1 for most of the past year, and the flow of funds into exchanges has been at historically low levels. Every recent price increase has been absorbed by sell orders at prices higher than the passive limit orders, indicating that the market remains cautiously optimistic overall.

According to data monitored by Woofun AI, this discrepancy between institutional heavy buying and the overall tightening of market liquidity suggests that significant structural divisions may emerge in the future.

Given that Bitmine’s purchase of 71,252 coins in one week has not managed to change the transaction ratio below 1, there are two possible explanations: either Bitmine’s purchasing power is not sufficient to counter the massive selling pressure in the market, or the current selling sentiment far exceeds the capacity of any single institution to absorb it.

At the current rate of acquisition, an additional 230,000 Ethereum coins would be needed to reach the 5% supply target, and this final phase of the plan is expected to take only about three weeks to complete. However, if Bitmine slows down its rapid purchasing pace, the positive impact it has had on the market over the long term will diminish, leaving the market facing a challenge that cannot be simply resolved by looking at transaction ratio data alone.