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    Why BitMine is accumulating Ether despite broader market fear

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    Why BitMine is accumulating Ether despite broader market fear

    Key takeaways

    • BitMine says it holds 3,864,951 ETH after adding 138,452 ETH in a week, describing its treasury as representing more than 3.2% of the ETH supply, as defined in the filing.

    • The accumulation is happening alongside risk-off signals, including notable spot Ether ETF outflow days and a reported spike in net outflows to Binance.

    • BitMine frames the strategy as both catalyst-driven (the Fusaka upgrade) and operational, pointing to staking via its planned MAVAN initiative in early 2026.

    • Interpretations differ, with some viewing the move as conviction-style positioning and others as a concentrated corporate treasury bet that is highly sensitive to flows, liquidity and volatility.

    BitMine is accelerating its Ether buying even as other signals around the cryptocurrency have turned risk off.

    In a Dec. 8 disclosure, the company said it held 3,864,951 Ether (ETH) as of Dec. 7 and added 138,452 ETH over the prior week, describing the position as representing more than 3.2% of the ETH supply.

    The backdrop looks less supportive. US spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have posted several notable net outflow days into early December, for example, -$79.0 million on Dec. 1 and -$41.5 million on Dec. 4, based on Farside’s daily totals. Meanwhile, onchain commentators have pointed to elevated ETH deposits to Binance, including a reported 162,084-ETH inflow on Dec. 5. Ether fell about 22% in November.

    BitMine says the buying is a long-term bet on future catalysts, while critics see it as a large, concentrated treasury position taken as market flows remain cautious.

    Did you know? Tom Lee has been ranked by Institutional Investor since 1998, and before co-founding Fundstrat, he served as JPMorgan’s chief equity strategist from 2007 to 2014.

    What exactly has BitMine done?

    BitMine’s latest disclosure puts its Ether position at 3,864,951 ETH as of Dec. 7, valued at an ETH price of $3,139.

    The company also reported buying 138,452 ETH over the prior week and said the treasury represents more than 3.2% of ETH’s supply.

    Alongside ETH, BitMine listed 193 BTC, $1 billion in cash and a $36-million stake in Eightco Holdings under its “moonshots” bucket, presenting the combined portfolio as a crypto and cash treasury strategy positioned as a public equity vehicle that may offer indirect exposure for some investors.

    This posture is relatively new. BitMine shifted from its prior focus to an aggressive Ether treasury strategy in late June 2025 and has publicly discussed an ambition to eventually acquire up to 5% of the total ETH supply.

    The strategy has attracted high-profile attention, with the company citing investments and buying interest associated with Bill Miller III, ARK Invest and Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund.

    Did you know? Peter Thiel disclosed a 9.1% stake in BitMine in July 2025, making him its largest investor at the time of writing.

    The “fear” signals around Ether

    The “market fear” framing in this story is largely flow-driven.

    On the ETF side, US spot Ether products have shown uneven demand into early December. Farside’s daily totals include multiple negative sessions, such as -$79.0 million on Dec. 1 and -$9.9 million on Dec. 2, after a stronger run in late November.

    Separately, the category saw heavy outflows in November, with $1.4 billion in net outflows, the largest monthly withdrawal on record.

    On exchanges, analysts often view large ETH deposits to trading venues as a possible sign of increased near-term sell-side readiness. Ether’s netflow to Binance reached 162,084 ETH on Dec. 5, described as the largest single-day positive netflow since May 2023.

    Price action has reinforced the risk-off tone. Ether fell about 22% in November, a drawdown that provides the emotional backdrop for interpreting those flows.

    BitMine’s rationale

    BitMine has framed its ETH accumulation as a thesis-driven treasury strategy rather than a response to short-term price moves.

    In its Dec. 8 disclosure, the company linked the buying to “multiple catalysts,” putting Ethereum’s Fusaka upgrade at the center of the argument.

    BitMine chairman Tom Lee described the Dec. 3 activation as a milestone that improves Ethereum’s scalability, security and usability and positioned it as part of the network’s next phase of technical maturation.

    The company also tied its Ethereum bet to a looser macro backdrop. In the same filing, Lee pointed to the US Federal Reserve ending quantitative tightening and referenced expectations of a market pricing for rate cuts, presenting both as supportive conditions for risk assets in general.

    Operationally, BitMine has connected its treasury approach to staking. In a Nov. 21 filing, it said it plans to begin Ether staking in early 2026 through a “Made in America Validator Network” (MAVAN).

    The company also disclosed that it selected three staking providers for a pilot test, using a portion of its ETH holdings ahead of a broader rollout.

    Did you know? The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority approved the company’s name change from Sandy Springs Holdings to BitMine Immersion Technologies in March 2022, along with the ticker change to “BMNR.”

    Two competing interpretations

    Interpretation A: Conviction and structural positioning

    From BitMine’s perspective, the accumulation reads like a deliberate attempt to build scale ahead of catalysts it believes are not fully reflected in current positioning.

    The company’s Dec. 8 disclosure explicitly frames the buying as thesis-driven, pointing to Ethereum’s Fusaka activation and a macro backdrop it describes as turning more supportive for risk assets.

    In that context, the ETH stack is presented more as a strategic reserve that can be paired with operational participation in the network.

    BitMine’s Nov. 21 filing reinforces that angle through MAVAN.

    Supporters of this view also point to a familiar public markets dynamic: A listed company can function as a simplified exposure vehicle for investors who prefer an equity wrapper, even when direct crypto demand is uneven.

    Interpretation B: Concentrated corporate treasury risk taken against a cautious tape

    A more skeptical reading starts with the same numbers and arrives somewhere else. BitMine itself describes the position as more than 3.2% of ETH’s supply, which can be interpreted as concentration risk: The strategy’s success becomes highly sensitive to ETH volatility, financing conditions and liquidity.

    This view gains traction when risk-off flow indicators are active. Farside’s daily totals show negative sessions for spot Ether ETFs into early December, while separate analytics commentary has highlighted large ETH deposits to Binance, including a reported 162,084 ETH inflow on Dec. 5.

    Add in November’s drawdown, and critics frame the move as a high-conviction directional bet on a reversal rather than a calm accumulation.

    BitMine’s own filing language also notes that outcomes depend on market conditions and other forward-looking risks, factors that can make the same accumulation look either visionary or fragile, depending on which regime dominates.

    What happens next?

    In the near term, BitMine’s strategy will be judged by follow-through: whether the company keeps expanding its disclosed ETH treasury at a similar cadence and continues publishing regular balance updates.

    The next concrete operational milestone it has outlined is staking. BitMine has said it plans to begin staking in early 2026 via MAVAN, following a pilot using third-party providers.

    On the protocol side, Ethereum’s Fusaka upgrade activated on Dec. 3, 2025 (per the Ethereum Foundation), setting the stage for subsequent scaling-oriented work.

    Meanwhile, the flow indicators driving the “fear” framing (daily ETF net flows and large exchange deposits) remain the most visible real-time signals to watch.

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    Ronin and ZKsync’s onchain metrics fell the most in 2025

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    Ronin and ZKsync’s onchain metrics fell the most in 2025

    Onchain activity declined sharply on several major networks, according to Nansen data, with 11 blockchains posting drops in active addresses in the past year.

    Ronin fell the most at 70%, while Bitcoin registered a 7.2% decline. Several Ethereum layer-2 networks made the list.

    Nansen data also showed drops in transaction activity across many of the same networks. ZKsync recorded one of the steepest declines, with transactions falling 90%.

    Meanwhile, Ethereum’s base layer recorded a 25% increase in active addresses and more than a 20% rise in transactions, even as debate continued around Ethereum’s rollup-centric roadmap and concerns over liquidity fragmentation across layer-2 networks.

    Ronin and Ethereum layer-2 chains dominate activity declines as Bitcoin sneaks into the list. Source: Nansen

    Networks with the biggest usage declines

    Pixels is a popular game that migrated to Ronin from Polygon in the second half of 2023. At the time, Ronin had roughly 20,000 daily active users before Pixels’ arrival drove a sharp increase in activity, briefly making Ronin the second-most active chain by daily users.

    By December 2024, Pixels registered around 300,000 daily active users, according to DappRadar. The game’s popularity has since declined, and Ronin’s onchain activity has fallen alongside it, showing the network’s reliance on hit games.

    Telegram, TON, Layer2, zk-Rollup, GameFi, Features, Nansen
    Pixels activity dropped throughout 2025. Source: DappRadar

    Several Ethereum layer-2 networks also experienced a decline in usage as activity tied to airdrops cooled. ZKsync’s token airdrop claim opened in June 2024. The network said nearly 700,000 wallets were eligible while fending off criticism of its Sybil filtering. Nansen data showed that more than 40% of the top airdrop wallets immediately sold their allocations. Scroll also appeared on the list following its October 2024 airdrop, after which onchain activity slowed down.

    Arbitrum saw active addresses fall by 3%, though its roughly 31 million users still ranked it among the top 10 networks by activity. The Ethereum rollup conducted its airdrop in 2023, and its transaction volume rose 36% over the past year to about 734.5 million, beating Ethereum’s 507 million transactions. Arbitrum drew activity from tokenized assets, including 500 US stocks stamped on the network by Robinhood.

    Related: How crypto is used in 2025: YouTube, Pokémon cards and more

    Base and Optimism stood out among Ethereum layer-2 networks. Both posted increases in active addresses and transaction volumes. Base does not have a native token and has never conducted an airdrop. Onchain activity rose alongside interest in areas such as memecoins, AI-related applications and decentralized exchanges.

    Solana recorded the most active addresses in the industry with more than 1 billion, followed by Tron and Ethereum. BNB Chain posted a 159% increase in active addresses, while Bitcoin was the only network in the top five to record a decline, alongside a 22% drop in transactions.

    Telegram, TON, Layer2, zk-Rollup, GameFi, Features, Nansen
    Memecoin activity has cooled, but Solana still leads the industry in onchain activity. Source: Nansen

    What the declines do and do not show

    The data showed little consistent relationship between onchain usage and token prices. Solana’s price fell over the past year despite a 66% increase in active addresses, while BNB’s (BNB) token price rose alongside increased network activity.

    Telegram, TON, Layer2, zk-Rollup, GameFi, Features, Nansen
    BNB rose almost 20% in the past year. Source: CoinGecko

    The year-over-year declines do not necessarily point to terminal problems for the networks involved. Onchain activity can swing sharply as applications migrate, incentive programs wind down or users shift between chains, particularly among newer networks still establishing their core use cases.

    Telegram-linked blockchain The Open Network (TON) also recorded a 47% drop in active addresses and a 51% decline in transactions, a reversal that followed outsized growth in 2024. Telegram-based mini-games drove much of that earlier activity, drawing in users beyond the platform’s typical crypto-native audience.

    Related: Bitcoin decouples from stocks in second half of 2025

    Hamster Kombat was among the most prominent examples. The tapping-based game lowered the barrier to entry through simple mechanics and drew heavy participation from users anticipating a future token airdrop. According to Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, the viral game attracted 239 million users within three months, with more than 130 million qualifying for its airdrop in late September.

    Nansen data shows that TON’s active addresses peaked at roughly 2.5 million per day on Sept. 30. Activity has since fallen back as engagement tied to Hamster Kombat cooled, underscoring how short-lived surges can distort year-over-year comparisons.

    Telegram, TON, Layer2, zk-Rollup, GameFi, Features, Nansen
    Hamster Kombat pushed Ton’s activity to new records. Source: Nansen

    A few chains retained usage after hype

    The past year’s blockchain data shows that onchain activity shifts quickly between networks rather than remaining anchored to any single chain. Usage fell most sharply on blockchains where activity had been concentrated around a small number of applications, incentive programs or viral moments.

    At the same time, those declines do not automatically signal broader ecosystem failure. In several cases, activity cooled after periods of outsized growth, highlighting how year-over-year comparisons can be distorted by hype cycles, airdrops or short-lived applications.

    Solana offers a useful contrast. While memecoin-driven activity boomed throughout 2024 and early 2025 before cooling toward the end of the year, the surge also brought in users, liquidity and applications that continued to support the network.

    Telegram, TON, Layer2, zk-Rollup, GameFi, Features, Nansen
    Solana’s memecoin boom has brought in new addresses that stayed after the boom. Source: Nansen

    Solana’s daily active addresses peaked above 9 million on Oct. 22, 2024, during the height of memecoin trading. By December, daily users fluctuated between 2 million and 3 million. While that marked a sharp pullback from peak levels, activity remained consistently higher than before the boom.

    Much of the past year’s onchain activity decline was driven by short-term profit-seeking, but networks such as Solana, BNB Chain and Base showed signs of retaining usage beyond viral surges, setting them apart from chains that saw sharper reversals.

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