rewrite this title BitMine boosts Ethereum holdings to 2.5% of total ETH supply in strategic dip-buying spree

Tom Lee’s BitMine has purchased another $281 million of ETH, taking the concept of ‘buying the dip’ to a whole new level. When the market sold off, BitMine accumulated. The company’s total Ethereum holdings now exceed 3.03 million ETH, roughly 2.5% of the entire supply, valued at around $12.9 billion.

Blockchain analytics from Lookonchain shows additional BitMine-linked wallets receiving over 72,000 ETH ($281 million) in transfers from FalconX and BitGo this week, reinforcing what’s looking like a coordinated strategy by the firm and other OTC desks to build positions into weakness.

Whales are back on the hunt

BitMine is not alone in its conviction. Analysts at WhaleMap and Arkham note that other large investors and institutions have been steadily accumulating Ethereum since early October, with more than 400,000 ETH flowing from exchanges into cold wallets.

Exchange reserves have fallen to a three-year low, suggesting that large players continue to hold long-term positions rather than trade short-term volatility. According to on-chain data, cumulative institutional holdings across corporate treasuries and Ethereum ETFs now exceed 12.8 million ETH, over 10% of the total supply.

Tom Lee remains one of the market’s most prominent Ethereum bulls. He recently reaffirmed his prediction that ETH could reach between $12,000 and $15,000 by the end of 2025, citing Ethereum’s expanding role in tokenization, decentralized finance, and AI-driven infrastructure.

His bullish case rests on liquidity dynamics: as rates fall and risk appetite returns, Ethereum’s utility and burn rate could push it into a genuine supply squeeze. Lee describes this phase as “real price discovery,” not speculation. In parallel, former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes has also doubled down, forecasting that Ethereum could reach $10,000 before the end of the year as macro headwinds ease and DeFi activity rebounds.

BitMine is strategically purchasing ETH

The timing of these buys is not lost on the market. BitMine’s October accumulation followed a sharp correction that wiped out more than $19 billion in leveraged positions across crypto. Ethereum briefly sank below $3,800 before rebounding above $4,100. BitMine’s strategic purchases helped steady confidence during those volatile sessions. As crypto investor Ted Pillows commented:

“Bitmine bought $279,640,000 in $ETH today. Big players are accumulating Ethereum.”

Behind the numbers, there’s a deeper narrative: institutional actors appear to be positioning for Ethereum’s next growth phase. With stablecoin settlement volumes on Ethereum surpassing $5 trillion in the third quarter (an all-time high), the network’s dominance as a settlement layer remains unchallenged.

For long-term investors like BitMine, this is less about timing the market and more about accumulating the infrastructure layer of a new financial system. In this context, each dip becomes a discount rather than a deterrent.