Tom Lee Says BitMine Will Stop Buying Ether Once It Reaches 5% of Circulating Supply

BitMine, the world's largest corporate holder of Ether reserves, will stop buying the token once it reaches 5% of Ethereum's circulating supply.

Tom Lee, BitMine's chairman, made the remark on October 7 at Token2049 in Singapore, CoinDesk reported. He said BitMine would stop buying Ether once its holdings reach 5% of circulating supply, adding that the company needs about 100,000 more Ether to hit that threshold.

BitMine is already close to its target. The company said its Ether holdings stood at about 6,016,400 as of earlier this month, equal to 4.9% of circulating supply.

BitMine bought more than 15,000 Ether last week alone. Lee said he had expected it would take five years to reach the goal, but that it took about one year.

At the same pace as last week, BitMine would need six to seven weeks to acquire the additional 100,000 Ether. The company holds $643 million in cash and marketable securities, more than double the amount needed to buy the target volume at current Ether prices.

BitMine has bought Ether every week since adopting its Ethereum-based digital asset treasury, or DAT, strategy in June last year. CoinDesk said the company has provided unusual demand for Ether and that, once the buying stops, one pillar of steady demand for the token could disappear.

Still, BitMine's holdings are carrying sizable mark-to-market losses. CoinDesk said the company's unrealized loss on its Ether position stood at about $4.5 billion as of October 7.