Bitmine ignores paper losses of $7.8 billion and buys $83 million worth of ETH as the market falls

Tom Lee’s BitMine added 40,000 ETH during the dip, wiping out $7.8 billion in losses as Ethereum neared a low.

The purchases came during another volatile session for Ethereum, with on-chain data showing heavy selling by other major holders and ETH trading near a multi-month low.

BitMine is added to ETH Stash while others are quitting

Data from the analytics platform Lookonchain, posted on February 10 and 11, shows Bitmine made two large purchases of 20,000 ETH each through institutional platforms BitGo and FalconX.

Last week the company bought 40,613 ETH, and 41,788 tokens were added the week before. It now owns approximately 4.32 million ETH, acquired at an average cost of $3,850 per coin. However, at current levels around $2,040, Lookonchain estimates that BitMine’s average entry price drops its position by more than $7.8 billion on paper.

Despite this, Lee has publicly dismissed the recent sell-off as disconnected from Ethereum’s on-chain activities. In comments reported earlier this month, he said BitMine found the pullback attractive given its view of strengthening Ethereum fundamentals such as record high daily transactions. He attributed the price weakness to factors such as a rally in gold and a lack of leverage rather than problems with the Ethereum network itself.

Lee also emphasized that Bitmine has no debt obligations that would force it to sell its ETH, a position that contrasts with other major players such as Trend Research, which according to Lookonchain sold almost all of its Ethereum since early February, posting losses of around $747 million after depositing more than 650,000 ETH with Binance during the decline.

Ethereum price struggles amid heavy on-chain moves

Looking at the market, ETH is down about 1% in the last 24 hours, and almost 13% in the last seven days. The world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization has also lost more than 34% of its value over the past month, according to data from CoinGecko.

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The price fell below $2,000 for the first time in months on February 5, but despite the volatility and apparent selling from some large holders, other data points to a possible easing of available selling pressure. For example, analyst CoinNiel recently reported that foreign exchange reserves for ETH have fallen to multi-year lows, indicating that longer-term holders are removing assets from trading platforms.

The market now shows a clear divide: one side is cutting losses after a severe recession, while the other, led by companies like Bitmine, is doubling down on its long-term beliefs, betting that current prices do not reflect the underlying utility of the network.