Tom Lee’s BitMine Immersion is facing paper losses of $7.35 billion on its corporate Ethereum treasury as the token’s price has fallen more than 57% from its October 2025 high of nearly $4,955.
The firm has continued its accumulation strategy through the downturn, becoming the largest publicly traded holder of ETH. "Historically, this kind of deterioration tends to happen when traders lose confidence in an asset’s short-term direction," on-chain data platform Santiment said in a recent report, noting that Ethereum's bullish-to-bearish social media comment ratio fell to nearly 1:1 in May.
BitMine’s public disclosures show its treasury has grown to 5.28 million ETH, representing about 4.37% of Ethereum’s total circulating supply. The position was acquired at an average price of $3,513 per ETH. The firm began building its treasury in July 2025 after a $250 million private placement, and has continued to buy despite mounting unrealized losses.
The strategy now faces a critical test as technical charts signal further downside. A prevailing rising wedge pattern on the daily chart, a formation that often precedes a bearish reversal, has a technical target near $1,600. A breakdown to that level would represent a 25% drop from current prices and expand BitMine’s paper losses to an estimated $10.1 billion.
Worsening Sentiment and Market Headwinds
The bearish technical setup for Ethereum is compounded by other market headwinds, including persistent outflows from Ether-based exchange-traded funds and a broader decline in the token’s market dominance. Ethereum’s share of the total crypto market capitalization has fallen to about 10% from a high of 15% in August 2025, according to data from TradingView, as capital rotates to other sectors, including Bitcoin.
Adding to the pressure are reports of several senior researchers departing the Ethereum Foundation this year, which some analysts, like Moonrock Capital founder Simon Dedic, have called a “massive red flag” for the ecosystem’s development.
Despite the mounting losses and negative sentiment, BitMine founder Tom Lee has remained publicly committed to the long-term strategy. In February, he suggested the steep price correction could be a buying opportunity, citing Ethereum’s history of sharp recoveries following declines of more than 50 percent. While the company stated in May that it would moderate the pace of its ETH purchases, it still aims to reach its goal of owning 5% of Ethereum’s total supply by December.
A potential positive catalyst for the firm, though not directly for the token, is BitMine's preliminary inclusion in the large-cap Russell 1000 index, a move that could create passive demand for its stock from index-tracking funds.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.