BitMine expanded its Ethereum holdings this week with nearly 200 million USD in new purchases, reinforcing their position as the largest single holder of the asset.
This action comes when ETH is trading near a monthly low and follows a period of steady distribution from mid-sized wallets according to on-chain data.
BitMines purchases occur when smaller ETH holders sell
Lookonchain reported, referencing Arkham Intelligence, that BitMine bought 22,676 ETH from BitGo on December 6 for about 68.7 million USD. The transaction indicates an average purchase price of approximately 3,028 USD per token.
Notably, the company had already purchased 41,946 ETH the day before from FalconX and BitGo for approximately 130.8 million USD.
These transactions are based on BitMine's disclosure last week that they held 3,730,000 ETH as of November 30. At current prices, the stock is worth over 11 billion USD.
BitMine also reported holdings of 192 BTC, a position worth 36 million USD in Eightco Holdings, and 882 million USD in cash.
Data from Strategy ETH Reserve shows that the company now holds more ETH than the five closest competitors combined, including SharpLink and Ethereum Foundation.
The size of their cash reserves places BitMine as the second-largest corporate crypto holder by value, only behind Michael Saylor-led Strategy, the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin.
The recent purchases come during a weak period for ETH. BeInCrypto data shows the token has fallen more than 10% over the past month to about 3,027 USD.
According to Alphractals Ethereum Accumulation Heatmap, wallets with 1 to 10,000 ETH sold heavily near this cycle's recent peak. These addresses continue to sell tokens, increasing market pressure.
Larger whales with more than 10,000 ETH have shown limited activity, with slight distribution but no strong accumulation.
Despite the weakness, several analysts maintain a positive long-term outlook.
Fundstrat's vice and BitMine's chairman Tom Lee said that Ethereum could reach 12,000 USD if Bitcoin reaches 250,000 USD, referring to the historical relationship between both assets and the growing demand for tokenized real assets.
He added that ETH could rise as high as 62,000 USD if its valuation ratio to Bitcoin expands over time.
