Tom Lee’s Bitmine shrugs off geopolitical chaos with $120m Ethereum buying spree

Bitmine is increasing its pace of Ethereum accumulation by scooping up $120 million worth of tokens, which is 20% more than last week.

But the ramping up of the firm’s buying spree is just the start, Bitmine Chair Tom Lee says.

“As the adage goes, nobody ‘rings the bell at the bottom’ and therefore Bitmine’s strategy is to now slightly increase its pace of Ethereum accumulation,” Lee said on Monday. “We continue to believe that crypto prices are in the late/final stages of the mini-crypto winter.”

This week’s nine-figure haul is the latest in the digital asset treasury firm’s $2.5 billion weekly buying spree since October. Bitmine now holds just over $9 billion in Ethereum, with $6 billion of that staked, making it the largest Ether treasury in the world.

Bitmine is turbocharging its shopping as Ethereum’s price has been tightly range-bound between $1,800 and $2,100 over much of the past month, alongside a stagnating cryptocurrency industry floating near the $2.4 trillion mark.

Yet the stall isn’t deterring Lee, who is one of Ethereum’s most prominent supporters and predicts $250,000 per token.

“Ethereum prices showed resilience this week, in the face of rising war concerns and surging oil prices,” Lee said.

To be sure, Ethereum is still down nearly 60% from its August peak of $4,950.

Crypto sidelined?

Geopolitical chaos stemming from the military conflict between the US and Israel on one side and Iran on the other has driven traders to rotate to more hyped up asset classes like stocks, oil, precious metals and currencies, leaving crypto tokens sidelined in comparison.

On Tuesday, the price of oil sank to nearly $90 a barrel after skyrocketing to $119 on Monday.

Prices later pulled back after US President Donald Trump agreed to lift sanctions on Russian oil following a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump said in a Monday interview with CBS News that he believes the war against Iran is “very complete,” adding that Washington is “well ahead” of his original estimate that the conflict would take four to five weeks.

Yet, he appeared to double down on threats on social media.

“If Iran does anything that stops the flow of Oil within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the United States of America TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far,” Trump said on Truth Social on Monday night.

“But I hope, and pray, that it does not happen!”

Crypto market movers

• Bitcoin is up 4.6% over the past 24 hours, trading at $71,000.
• Ethereum is up 3.3% past 24 hours at $2,067.

What we’re reading

• Hyperliquid price to $150? Arthur Hayes makes bold prediction for HYPE token — DL News
• Hyperliquid opens ‘Pandora’s box’ as oil skyrockets while Bitcoin price flatlines near $68,000 — DL News
• Weekend Trading Surge Highlights Demand for Onchain Commodities — Unchained
• Coinbase rolls out 10x levered Bitcoin contracts for Europeans — DL News
• Brace for volatility this week — Milk Road

Lance Datskoluo is DL News’ Europe-based markets correspondent. Got a tip? Email him at lance@dlnews.com.