Billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel has made a fresh bet on Ethereum, acquiring a 9.1% stake in BitMine Immersion Technologies, a crypto mining and treasury firm chaired by Fundstrat’s Tom Lee. The development was confirmed through a Schedule 13G filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday.
According to the filing, Thiel-linked entities reported shared voting and dispositive power over 5,094,000 shares in BitMine. The stake cements Thiel’s growing interest in crypto-native companies, not just for their mining operations but also for their role as large-scale holders of digital assets. BitMine has positioned itself as one of the biggest Ethereum treasury firms in the space today.
On July 14, BitMine revealed that its ETH holdings had crossed 163,000 ETH, valued at roughly $500 million. What’s notable is that this figure more than doubled the $250 million the firm had raised through a private placement just five days earlier.
The strategy bears similarities to MicroStrategy’s well-known Bitcoin play, where the firm, now called Strategy, accumulated over 600,000 BTC, reshaping how public companies view crypto assets as balance sheet holdings.
The private placement that saw Thiel’s entry also included heavyweights like Pantera Capital, Galaxy Digital, and crypto exchange Kraken. BitMine sold over 55 million shares at $4.50 each during the raise, with proceeds aimed at expanding its Ethereum treasury.
Since June, the company has been chaired by Tom Lee, Fundstrat’s co-founder and Chief Investment Officer. Under Lee’s leadership, BitMine’s stock has been on a rollercoaster ride. Closing prices have swung from as low as $4.26 to as high as $135, driven by market interest around its Ethereum-focused strategy.
On Monday, BitMine’s stock (BMNR) jumped to $59, a sharp 45% rise from Friday’s closing price of $40.62, but eventually settled back down to end the day at $41.02. While the stock has been swinging quite a bit, interest in Ethereum treasuries keeps building. For a long time, Bitcoin was the go-to choice for corporate treasuries.
Now, though, firms like SharpLink Gaming are putting serious money into Ethereum as well. SharpLink recently revealed it holds $257 million worth of ETH, claiming it now has one of the largest reserves in the industry.
Commenting on the trend, Ryan Chow, CEO of BTCFi protocol Solv Protocol, said that while Ethereum’s utility as “digital oil” makes it attractive for staking, collateral, and settlement, its complexity poses underwriting challenges. Still, Chow believes Ethereum’s upside as an asset of participation and preservation is something “savvy corporate treasuries are beginning to internalise.”
Also Read: SharpLink Adds Another 5188 ETH as Ethereum Price Crosses $3K
