BitMine files to expand its at-the-market equity offering by $20 billion to fund more ETH purchases

Ethereum treasury company BitMine Immersion Technologies filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday to expand its at-the-market equity offering by $20 billion to help fund more ETH purchases over time.

BitMine initially entered into an agreement with Cantor Fitzgerald and ThinkEquity to sell up to $2 billion in common stock through an at-the-market offering on July 9, filing an amendment with the SEC to increase the offering amount to $4.5 billion on July 24.

The latest supplement further amends the prospectus with the SEC to increase the number of shares that may be sold in the ATM offering to $24.5 billion, the firm said — a fivefold increase in issuance capacity, VanEck Head of Digital Assets Research Matthew Sigel first noted on X. BitMine said it may also use the proceeds to buy bitcoin and expand its bitcoin mining and consulting operations, according to the prospectus.

Ether's recent price rise back above $4,350 for the first time since 2021 follows a period of rapid accumulation from the plethora of new Ethereum treasury companies that have raised and bought billions of dollars worth of ETH in recent weeks, replicating the playbook from bitcoin treasury company pioneer, Michael Saylor's Strategy, for the proof-of-stake cryptocurrency.

Ethereum is currently trading for $4,405, according to The Block's ETH price page, up 5.4% in the past 24 hours. 

BitMine is up 3.8% in pre-market trading on Tuesday following the news, per TradingView, having gained 14.7% on Monday.

BMNR/USD price chart. Image: TradingView.

BitMine becomes first to surpass 1 million ETH

BitMine currently leads the pack of Ethereum treasury holders with over 1.15 million ETH ($5 billion), after announcing it had purchased a further 317,000 ETH on Monday — becoming the first to surpass the 1 million ETH milestone. 

BitMine chairman Tom Lee, also co-founder of Fundstrat, said on CNBC that Ethereum could be entering a "2017 Bitcoin" moment fueled by three key drivers: a regulatory green light for stablecoins, signs of SEC openness to moving finance onchain, and major firms such as JPMorgan and Robinhood building on Ethereum. Lee floated the prospect of an "Ethereum MicroStrategy" era and said prices could move to $30,000 or more if those trends compound.

BitMine is followed by Joe Lubin's SharpLink with 598,800 ETH ($2.6 billion), and The Ether Machine with 345,400 ETH ($1.5 billion), according to The Block's Ethereum Treasuries page.

The Ethereum Foundation remains the largest holder outside of the public companies with 232,600 ETH ($1 billion), per SER data, while Coinbase holds 136,800 ETH ($588.8 million) in addition to its 11,776 BTC ($1.4 billion) in bitcoin holdings.

A recent report from Standard Chartered Global Head of Digital Assets Research Geoffrey Kendrick said Ethereum treasury firms are "just getting started" — and could 10x their holdings to 10% of all ETH over time.