Tom Lee's Bitmine has made its largest weekly purchase since early July, adding 32,447 ETH worth $81 million as Ethereum broke above $2,500 during a sharp market-wide rally. The company's total holdings now stand at 5,847,611 ETH, valued at approximately $14.6 billion at current prices. This latest acquisition brings Bitmine closer to its stated '5% Alchemy' target, with the firm now holding 4.8% of Ethereum's total supply and positioned 97% of the way toward the 5% threshold. The company has maintained its treasury strategy since launching on June 30, 2025, purchasing ETH every single week for roughly 14 months without interruption.
Lee has identified Bitmine as the US-listed stock most closely tied to Ethereum, with BitMine showing an 80% correlation with ETH in Fundstrat's comparison of 17 large-cap stocks with market values above $2 billion. According to Fundstrat, BitMine led the Ethereum group with this correlation, while Coinbase ranked second at 74%. Lee expects Ethereum to outperform Bitcoin during the present cycle because tokenization and AI applications could create demand for Ethereum's network. The ETH/BTC ratio has risen to 0.02994 and moved above a long-running downward trend, indicating that ETH is gaining value against BTC. Lee's thesis is supported by US spot Ethereum ETFs attracting $365 million in July compared to $205 million for Bitcoin funds, marking Ethereum's strongest monthly inflows on record.
Roughly 5,067,309 ETH, or 87% of BitMine's holdings, sits staked through its Made in America Validator Network. The company projects that this staked position could generate around $330 million in annualized revenue, though actual returns depend on network conditions and validator performance rather than being guaranteed. Including 210 Bitcoin (BTC), stakes in Beast Industries and Eightco Holdings, and $308 million in cash and marketable securities, the company reported a combined treasury of $14.9 billion, up from $11.4 billion the previous week. As the largest publicly traded Ethereum treasury company, BitMine positions its steady accumulation and staking operations as a structural force behind the network's growth, regardless of short-term price swings.
Ethereum traded near $2,511 as of August 24, after surging roughly 30% over the past week, marking its strongest gain since May 2025 and outpacing Bitcoin's own advance of roughly 22% over the same period. Lee framed this week's price action as historically significant, noting that similar moves in the past have signaled the launch point of much larger rallies, with earlier cycles followed by gains exceeding 160%. He pointed to several tailwinds behind the move: Wall Street's growing tokenization efforts, expanding agentic AI applications built on blockchain infrastructure, supportive policy signals out of Washington, and easing broader financial conditions. Lee echoed BlackRock's view that Bitcoin's long-term investment case remains intact even after a roughly 50% drawdown from its October 2025 high, stating that 'With AI and robotics accelerating so fast, crypto is even more relevant today.'
Despite Lee's bearish stance on Robinhood, the company delivered exceptional second-quarter results that challenged his negative outlook. Revenue rose 32% year-over-year to a record $1.31 billion, while diluted earnings per share climbed 48% to $0.62. Net deposits hit a record $22 billion, up 28% on an annualized basis. Simpson pointed to Robinhood's purchase of a registered investment adviser and its in-house custodial platform as evidence the company has outgrown its early, pandemic-era reputation. The strong financial performance has created a disconnect between Lee's bearish sentiment and the company's actual performance metrics.
According to Fundstrat, Robinhood's own crypto trading business remains under pressure, with crypto transaction revenue falling 38% year-over-year to $100 million in the second quarter. However, the company has redirected its crypto ambitions toward infrastructure instead. In July, Robinhood launched Robinhood Chain, its own layer-2 blockchain built on the Arbitrum network, designed for tokenized stocks, decentralized lending, and round-the-clock trading. The company's pivot away from direct crypto trading toward blockchain infrastructure development reflects the broader industry shift toward institutional-grade crypto services.
