Bitmine Immersion Technologies Strengthens Institutional Dominance with $23.9 Million Direct Deal with Ethereum Foundation

On April 24, 2026, Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) announced that it has directly purchased 10,000 ETH from the Ethereum Foundation for $23.9 million. This transaction comes just days after Bitmine recorded its largest weekly accumulation of the year and is considered a key step toward achieving the company's public goal of securing 5% of the total Ethereum supply.

This direct purchase has served as an opportunity for Bitmine to further solidify its position as a dominant institutional holder within the Ethereum ecosystem.

This transaction is highly symbolic as it signifies the Ethereum Foundation's recognition of Bitmine's role within the ecosystem. Beyond purchasing Ethereum on the market, Bitmine demonstrated an asset accumulation method that takes on the character of a strategic partnership by securing a large volume through a direct deal with the Foundation. The purchase price, totaling $23.9 million, is known to reflect recent market prices.

The Journey Toward a 5% Stake: Bitmine's Aggressive Accumulation Strategy

Bitmine is pursuing a clear goal of holding 5% of the total Ethereum supply. As of April 20, 2026, Bitmine's Ethereum holdings reached 4,976,000 ETH, and its total asset value, including cryptocurrency and cash, recorded $12.9 billion. This is a sharp increase from the 4,803,000 ETH (approximately 3.98% of the total supply) reported on April 6, showing that it is rapidly approaching the 5% target.

• Cathie Wood of ARK Invest
• Founders Fund and Bill Miller III
• Pantera Capital and Galaxy Digital
• Kraken and Digital Currency Group (DCG)
• Individual investor Tom Lee

The Ethereum Foundation describes this sale as part of disciplined treasury management. Since February 24, 2026, the Foundation has begun staking a portion of its Ethereum holdings to fund protocol development, setting a staking target of 70,000 ETH. This sale to Bitmine is also interpreted as a decision based on the Foundation's long-term financial strategy and network management principles, through which the Foundation maintains its financial health as a non-profit organization.

Bitmine's accumulation pace in April is at an unprecedented level. In the week of April 20 alone, just before the transaction with the Foundation, it purchased 101,627 ETH (worth approximately $230 million), which is the largest weekly purchase volume in 2026. This aggressive move is a point of differentiation from other digital asset treasury management companies, suggesting that Bitmine has emerged as a key player in the Ethereum market.

Market Supply Reduction and Institutional Confidence

The removal of large volumes from the market acts as a factor that increases the scarcity of Ethereum. Analysts diagnose that Bitmine's strategy of staking the secured ETH to reduce liquid supply is exerting subtle upward price pressure on the market. In particular, the fact that Bitmine has already staked over 3.3 million ETH has the effect of supporting asset value by directly reducing the tradable supply.

Bitmine is now making its final push toward the milestone of a 5% stake. As the Ethereum Foundation promotes network advancement centered on three core pillars—Scale, User Experience (UX), and Harden—through its 2026 roadmap, the asset accumulation by giant institutions like Bitmine is expected to be an important backdrop supporting the network's institutional credibility.