Tom Lee's BitMine Acquires $76 Million Worth of Ethereum as Experts Forecast ETH to Surpass Bitcoin

BitMine Immersion Technologies Expands Ethereum Holdings

BitMine Immersion Technologies, a major publicly listed company specializing in Ethereum, has recently increased its reserves by acquiring 24,266 ETH—an amount valued at approximately $76 million—over the past week.

With this latest purchase, BitMine’s Ethereum holdings now exceed 4.16 million ETH, worth about $13 billion. This makes BitMine the largest holder of Ethereum among public companies and the second-largest crypto treasury overall, trailing only Strategy’s Bitcoin reserves, which are valued near $63 billion. BitMine’s stash now represents roughly 3.5% of all circulating Ethereum.

Tom Lee, Chairman of BitMine, commented, “The year 2026 holds great promise for the crypto sector, with the adoption of stablecoins and the rise of tokenization positioning blockchain—especially Ethereum—as the backbone for Wall Street settlements.”

Lee further explained, “We see the leverage reset after October 10 as a ‘mini crypto winter.’ We expect crypto prices to rebound in 2026, with even stronger growth anticipated in 2027 and 2028.” He referenced the significant market event in October, when $19 billion in crypto positions were liquidated in a single day.

Both Lee and BitMine remain highly optimistic about Ethereum’s future, backing their beliefs with substantial investments. Lee has previously predicted a “100x ETH supercycle” and set a long-term price target of $250,000 per ETH.

The company’s confidence in Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, is further supported by a recent research note from Standard Chartered. The bank highlighted BitMine’s ongoing accumulation of ETH as a key factor that could help Ethereum outperform Bitcoin in the coming years.

Standard Chartered analyst Geoff Kendrick wrote, “We identify several factors that could drive ETH to outperform. While inflows into digital assets via ETFs and corporate treasuries have slowed, BitMine’s continued purchases give ETH a relative edge.”

Kendrick, like Lee, points to the growing adoption of stablecoins and the tokenization of real-world assets as trends that will support Ethereum’s growth and could narrow the gap between ETH and BTC in the future.

Despite recent weakness in the crypto market, Standard Chartered has adjusted its short-term price forecast for ETH to $7,500 in 2026—still a record high, though lower than its previous $12,000 estimate.

However, the bank has raised its long-term projections, now predicting that ETH could reach $30,000 by 2029 and $40,000 by 2030.

Revised Outlooks for Bitcoin and Ethereum

Kendrick noted, “Due to Bitcoin’s underperformance, we have lowered our BTC forecasts and now expect to reach our $500,000 target by 2030.”

He added, “Because Bitcoin dominates the digital asset market, we have also reduced our ETH-USD forecasts for the next few years. Nevertheless, we believe Ethereum’s prospects have become more favorable in relative terms.”

To achieve Standard Chartered’s $40,000 target, ETH would need to surge by nearly 1,200% from its current price, which was around $3,132 at the time of writing. The asset remains about 37% below its all-time high of $4,496 set in 2025.

Shares of BitMine (BMNR) recently climbed over 3% in a single day, trading at $31.04.