Nearly 5% of All Ethereum Is Now in One Corporate Treasury: Why Top Whale Is Now Tapering Buys

Bitmine corners 4.8% of the global Ethereum supply but slashes weekly ETH purchases to execute a massive $ billion stock buyback strategy.

Gamza Khanzadaev · 20 Jul 2026 · 5 min read

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Nearly 5% of All Ethereum Is Now in One Corporate Treasury: Why Top Whale Is Now Tapering Buys

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By
Gamza Khanzadaev

Mon, 20/07/2026 – 14:37

Bitmine corners 4.8% of the global Ethereum supply but slashes weekly ETH purchases to execute a massive $ billion stock buyback strategy.

Nearly 5% of All Ethereum Is Now in One Corporate Treasury: Why Top Whale Is Now Tapering Buys

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The world’s largest corporate Ethereum whale, Bitmine Immersion Technologies, has revealed its hand and disclosed financial reserves worth $11.5 billion. Its treasury currently holds 5,777,468 ETH — a colossal 4.8% of the coin’s total global supply of 120.7 million ETH.

In just one year, Bitmine has come close to achieving its ambitious “Alchemy of 5%” target. In the global ranking of publicly traded crypto treasuries, the company trails only Strategy Inc., with its $55 billion Bitcoin portfolio.

However, another detail in the report caught investors off guard — at the peak of the market downturn, the top whale unexpectedly and sharply reduced its cryptocurrency purchases.

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Over the past three weeks, Bitmine has consistently reduced its purchase volumes. In early July, the company took 42,197 ETH, worth $74 million, off the market in one week. It then bought another 27,801 ETH, while purchases over the past seven days fell to a modest 7,430 ETH, worth approximately $13.9 million.

The sixfold slowdown is not a sign of panic, as Bitmine Chairman Thomas “Tom” Lee explained that the company is still buying ETH every week, but its focus has temporarily shifted to repurchasing its own shares.

*Ethereum and BitMine price performance in Q3 2026, Source:* *TradingView*

Ethereum is currently trapped within its long-term support zone of $1,500–$1,800 and is trading near $1,856. For Bitmine, with an average portfolio purchase price of $1,879, this remains a comfortable accumulation zone. However, the company’s shares have suffered much more severely from the market turmoil than the cryptocurrency itself.

Since the beginning of June, Ethereum has corrected by 8.07%, while Bitmine shares, traded under the ticker BMNR, plunged as much as 32% at their local low and were still down 12.96% as of July 20. Seeing this inefficiency, management activated a $4 billion buyback program.