Tom Lee's Bitmine favors share buybacks to ether purchases as crypto declines

The comparison follows weeks of pressure on AI-related stocks amid concerns about spending on data centers and the returns those investments might bring. Lee pointed to crypto’s smaller decline as a sign of strength, though it doesn’t rule out further losses.

Bitmine keeps buying ETH, but slowing

Alongside the share buybacks, Bitmine picked up another 10,452 ETH worth roughly $24.5 million, slowing from 12,535 ETH the previous week.

That brought its holdings to 6,051,933 ETH, or about 4.95% of Ethereum's 122.2 million token supply. The company is now roughly 58,000 ETH short of its goal of owning 5% of all ether.

The two purchases show how Bitmine is splitting its capital between adding more ETH and buying back its own stock, favoring the latter as the company nears its accumulation target.

Bitmine has also staked about 5.23 million ETH, or 86% of its holdings, and projects roughly $318 million in annualized staking revenue at current yields.