Bitmine Immersion (BMNR) bought 71,672 ETH last week. That’s roughly $157 million in one week. Chairman Tom Lee says rising oil prices are pressing ETH down. He called the pullback below $2,200 an “attractive opportunity” and bought more anyway.<\/p>\n
Bitmine is one of the few public companies building an Ethereum treasury. Think of it as the ETH version of what Michael Saylor’s Strategy does with Bitcoin. The firm holds crypto on its balance sheet as a core business strategy, not as a side investment.<\/p>\n
That was considered a slowdown from the prior pace. Lee had even suggested publicly that the pace of buying would ease. Then last week happened.<\/p>\n
This kind of dip-buying by a corporate treasury is rare. Most companies cut exposure when prices fall. Bitmine did the opposite. It nearly tripled its weekly purchase size during a broad market selloff<\/a>.<\/p>\n The context matters here. ETH has been under pressure. Bitcoin slid below $77,000 this week as oil prices and Treasury yields hit risk assets broadly. ETH has felt that pressure more than most. Corporate treasury strategies that accumulate through downturns rather than retreating from them represent a distinct and still-uncommon posture in crypto markets. When prices fall and conviction holds, the weekly purchase disclosures become a live signal of institutional sentiment. One that other market participants watch closely. Lee’s oil thesis is the interesting part: he argues that rising crude prices have become the main factor weighing on ETH. When oil goes up, ETH goes down. His bet is that oil reverses, and ETH follows.<\/p>\n\t\t