Tom Lee’s BitMine Adds $139 Million to Ethereum Ahead of Preferred Stock Trading

Leading Ethereum Treasury firm BitMine Immersion Technologies boosted its stake to over 5.6 million ETH last week, adding 76,881 ETH or over $139 million — along with nearly $274 million in proceeds from Completion of the offering of preferred sharesBMNB.

BMNP is expected to begin trading on Tuesday with an annual dividend of 9.5% weekly. The proceeds are expected to be used to help acquire more ETH, fund infrastructure buildouts, or buy back common shares in BitMine (BMNR).

“The Series A preferred stock offering is a good diversification of BitMine’s balance sheet,” Tom Lee, chairman of the board, said in a statement. “The Company’s current expected annual share awards of approximately $219 million provide recurring cash flow to support dividends related to the Series A preferred.” (Disclaimer: Lee is an investor in Dastan, the parent company of… Decryption.)

Currently, Lee’s company holds more than 4.7 million ETH, or about $8.5 billion of the second largest cryptocurrency assets, via the Made in America Validation Network (MAVAN). If BitMine captures all 5.6 million ETH, the company expects it will generate about $269 million in annual staking revenue.

The company’s shares are trading up more than 6.6% on Monday, most recently trading around $17.18. Markets are moving higher After announcing a ceasefire between the United States and Iran.

The stock’s gains coincide with a significant rise in the price of its treasury assets, with ETH also up nearly 9% in the past 24 hours, most recently trading at $1,811.

While the jump pushed BitMine’s treasury holdings to over $10.1 billion, Ethereum’s top treasury is still down significantly due to its purchases of ETH, which now carries unrealized losses of about $9 billion. According to DropsTab data.

Although the price of Ethereum rose on Monday, it is still more than 63% below its all-time high of $4,946 set last August.