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

Judgment

Bitmine's management, not the market, now sets the split: roughly $45.9 million went to 2.04 million shares at an average $22.48 while only 10,452 ETH were added, tilting capital toward buybacks as the treasury nears its 5% ether goal. The cost is slower accumulation — about 58,000 ETH short of target.

Basis

Chairman Tom Lee said in a Monday statement that crypto has held up better than AI stocks during the pullback, which he blamed on "risk off" forces behind the AI sell-off: "ETH has fallen 13% from its recent peak while US semiconductors ($SOXX) is down 20% in that same timeframe," which he called "further evidence that a crypto bull market is underway." The mechanism is capital allocation rather than sentiment. Bitmine resumed repurchases after a roughly 10-week pause, buying 2.04 million shares at an average $22.48 for about $45.9 million — its first buyback since Aug. 17, when a five-week stretch closed at roughly 21 million shares for $350 million. Total buybacks this year reach 22.9 million shares, worth nearly $400 million, and the company said it will keep buying when management considers the stock undervalued. Alongside that it added 10,452 ETH worth about $24.5 million, slowing from 12,535 ETH the prior week, bringing holdings to 6,051,933 ETH, or about 4.95% of Ethereum's 122.2 million token supply. It has staked about 5.23 million ETH, 86% of holdings, projecting roughly $318 million in annualized staking revenue at current yields.