BitMine pulls $65M in ETH from Kraken in latest accumulation move

Lookonchain data has revealed that a Bitmine wallet has accumulated approximately $65.4 million in ETH. This significant transaction involved a withdrawal of 20,000 ETH from the Kraken exchange, which was then moved to the firm's dedicated wallet.

Historically, withdrawals made by large holders, often referred to as whales, from exchanges have been interpreted as indicators of accumulation rather than liquidation. This particular withdrawal suggests an intention to move funds into cold storage for long-term holding, rather than for immediate sale on the market.

Bitmine's Ethereum Accumulation Reaches 4.07 Million ETH

Bitmine recently expanded its holdings by accumulating an additional 24,068 ETH on Wednesday, a move valued at approximately $80.57 million. With this latest acquisition, the firm now possesses a total of 4.07 million ETH, which is worth approximately $13.37 billion. This substantial holding represents 3.36% of Ethereum's total circulating supply.

This makes Tom Lee's firm the second-largest crypto treasury by holdings, trailing only Strategy, which maintains a significant reserve of 687,410 BTC, valued at approximately $65.4 billion.

The Ethereum token has experienced a notable surge of over 6% in the past week, a trend that has coincided with a series of accumulation activities recorded by the treasury firm. As of the time of this report, ETH was trading at $3,293, marking a slight decrease of 0.64%.

Strategic Initiatives and MAVAN Solution

These recent strategic moves by Bitmine align with its plans to introduce its MAVAN (Made in America Validator Network) staking solution later this year. This initiative is aimed at reinforcing its position as a leading global crypto treasury firm.

Tom Lee, the chairman of Bitmine, has presented the MAVAN solution as a strategic design intended to transition the treasury firm from a pure accumulation strategy to one that emphasizes monetization through its validator operations.

“We continue to make progress on our staking solution known as The Made in America Validator Network (MAVAN). This will be the ‘best-in-class’ solution offering secure staking infrastructure and will be deployed in early calendar 2026.”

– Tom Lee, Chairman of Bitmine

According to Chairman Lee, the deployment of the MAVAN solution is expected to propel his firm to become the largest staking provider within the cryptocurrency landscape. During the recent annual meeting held on January 15th, Tom Lee encouraged Bitmine’s shareholders to vote in favor of increasing the company's authorized shares.

He elaborated that Bitmine's charter contains an unusual provision requiring 50% of all outstanding shares to approve any increase in authorized shares. Lee stated that this clause currently limits the potential for authorized share increases and emphasized the necessity of pursuing this increment promptly to avoid hindering the firm's ongoing accumulation efforts.

Bitmine's Stock Performance and Market Position

According to data from Arkham Intelligence, Bitmine's current total staked ETH amounts to 2,155,656 ETH, valued at $7 billion. This figure represents an increase of over half a million ETH since the previous week. The Composite Ethereum Staking Rate (CESR) currently stands at 2.81%, as reported by Quatrefoil data.

Tom Lee has projected that if ETH is fully staked by MAVAN and its partner staking entities, the firm could potentially generate an annual staking fee of $374 million, assuming the current 2.81% CESR. This projection highlights the significant revenue potential of their staking operations.

Bitmine's stock has seen a positive reaction to the news of its accumulating ETH holdings, jumping 0.94% today and trading at $31.16. Over the past five days, the stock has recorded an increase of more than 4%, with an average trading volume of $45.39 million, driven by the series of recent accumulations.

In the broader market context, Ethereum-focused treasuries collectively hold approximately 13.1 million ETH, encompassing entities focused on staking and ETF strategies. Sharplink emerges as Bitmine's largest competitor, with current accumulations totaling 863.02 K ETH, valued at $2.84 billion. Following Sharplink is The Ether Machine treasury firm, which now holds 496.1K ETH, valued at $1.64 billion.

U.S. Ethereum Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) currently hold approximately 6.31 million ETH, valued at roughly $20.67 billion. This represents about 5.2% of Ethereum's total supply. Data from SoSoValue indicates that BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA) has attracted $12.94 billion since its inception, capturing more than 50% of the market share among all ETH ETFs.