Bitmine Buys 5,000 ETH From Ethereum Foundation in $10.38M OTC Deal

Tom Lee's Bitmine has acquired 5,000 Ethereum directly from the Ethereum Foundation through an over-the-counter transaction priced at $2,042.96 per ETH, totaling approximately $10.38 million. The Ethereum Foundation confirmed the deal via X, with on-chain data from Arkham Intelligence verifying the transfer to a wallet linked to Bitmine's treasury.

The foundation stated that proceeds from the sale will support its core operations, including protocol research and development, ecosystem growth initiatives, and community grant programs. This transaction is part of the foundation's broader treasury management strategy, which recently expanded to include staking up to 70,000 ETH to strengthen long-term financial sustainability.

The OTC deal adds to Bitmine's aggressive Ethereum accumulation strategy. The company previously acquired 60,976 ETH, bringing its total holdings to approximately 4,534,563 ETH. Despite facing an estimated $7.5 billion in unrealized losses against a total investment of $16.7 billion, Bitmine continues to deepen its ETH exposure, signaling strong long-term confidence in Ethereum's value proposition.

The purchase also closely followed the Ethereum Foundation's release of its organizational mandate, which reaffirmed its commitment to building a censorship-resistant, open-source, and privacy-focused blockchain ecosystem designed for user self-sovereignty and fair participation.

On the equities side, Bitmine's stock ticker BMNR has shown signs of recovery, climbing over 5% this week and trading above $20. The stock closed Friday at $20.55, though it remains down more than 26% year-to-date. Analyst Donald Dean noted that BMNR has been forming higher lows and new highs since February, pointing to a classic bullish continuation structure supported by Ethereum's relative price stability.

Ethereum itself continues to hold above the $2,000 level, recently trading at $2,077, though it has pulled back slightly over the past 24 hours.