BitMine Immersion Defends Ethereum Treasury Strategy Amid $6B Unrealized Losses

BitMine Immersion chairman Tom Lee has pushed back against growing criticism over the company’s mounting paper losses, arguing that the drawdown is a natural outcome of its long-term ethereum treasury strategy rather than a failure in execution. In recent posts on X, Lee emphasized that BitMine is designed to track the price of ether over a full market cycle and ultimately outperform it, positioning the firm more like an index-style investment vehicle than a short-term trading operation.

As the broader crypto market remains in a downturn, BitMine acknowledged that unrealized losses on its ETH holdings are inevitable. Lee noted that declining asset values during bearish cycles are not unusual and questioned why similar scrutiny is not applied to traditional index funds during market drawdowns. According to him, these paper losses are “not a bug — it’s a feature” of maintaining long-duration exposure to a core digital asset like ethereum.

Recent reports indicate that BitMine is currently sitting on more than $6 billion in unrealized losses after ether’s price slide reduced the value of its 4.24 million ETH holdings to roughly $9.6 billion, down from nearly $14 billion in October. The company also added over 40,000 ETH shortly before the latest downturn, further intensifying attention on its balance-sheet exposure and sensitivity to price swings.

BitMine has consistently framed itself as an ethereum treasury company rather than a discretionary buyer, focusing on long-term ETH accumulation and staking yield instead of short-term market timing. This approach mirrors strategies used by bitcoin-focused treasury firms that view volatility as the cost of holding strategic, long-term positions.

However, the sheer scale of BitMine’s ethereum holdings means market fluctuations have an outsized impact on its reported financial results, particularly during periods of thin liquidity and forced selling in derivatives markets. While the firm has previously estimated annual staking revenue of around $164 million, that income offers only limited protection during sharp drawdowns.

Despite warning that the crypto market is still in a deleveraging phase that could last into early 2026, Lee reaffirmed the company’s conviction. BitMine remains committed to its thesis, maintaining that ethereum’s long-term role as foundational infrastructure for decentralized finance justifies its strategy and exposure.