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BitMine Chairman Tom Lee Says Institutions Are Still Underweight Crypto, Expects Year-End Rush
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Tom Lee, chairman of BitMine, stated that large investors remain underinvested in cryptocurrency and are expected to substantially increase their exposure in the final three months of 2026. This forecast follows BitMine's latest purchase of 27,562 ether, bringing its total holdings to 5.98 million ETH, worth approximately $16.3 billion. The company has been buying ether weekly since June 30, 2025, aiming to own 5% of the total Ethereum supply, but the target keeps moving due to constant new token minting. Lee noted that ether has outperformed the S&P 500 by roughly 65 percentage points since the end of June, attributing institutional underweighting to the outperformance of AI stocks earlier in 2026. Despite BitMine's crypto, cash, and private stakes valued at $17.1 billion, the company's market capitalization was $15.68 billion at Friday's close, a typical discount for crypto treasury firms. Ether traded near $2,734 at the time of writing, up over 6% in 24 hours.
Source report
Lockridge Okoth Mon, September 21, 2026 at 7:33 AM PDT 2 min read
- ETH-USD +5.79%
BitMine purchased another 27,562 ether last week. The company now holds 5.98 million tokens, worth approximately $16.3 billion. However, it still has not reached the 5% of Ethereum (ETH) supply it has been pursuing for 15 months.
Chairman Tom Lee says large investors remain underinvested in crypto and will increase their exposure before the year ends. The stock market currently values his company at less than the crypto it already owns.
BitMine Buys Ether Every Week, but the Finish Line Keeps Moving
BitMine describes itself as a company built to accumulate crypto for the long term. It has purchased ether every week since June 30, 2025, and says it is 98% of the way to owning 5% of all ether in existence.
However, ether has no supply limit. New tokens are minted constantly, meaning the 5% target rises as BitMine pursues it.
BeInCrypto flagged this issue in August. At that time, BitMine was roughly 251,000 tokens short of the 5% mark.
Since then, the company has bought 136,329 ether. It remains short by approximately 121,000 tokens.
Lee Bets on a Fourth Quarter Rush While the Market Marks Him Down
Lee offers a simple argument for those who have stayed on the sidelines: Ether has outperformed the S&P 500 by roughly 65 percentage points since the end of June.
"Given institutions have underweighted crypto in 2026, partially due to the outperformance of AI stocks in early 2026, we expect institutions to substantially increase their exposure in the final 3 months of 2026," he said in the company's latest release.
Investors are not yet buying that view. BitMine values its crypto, cash, and private stakes at $17.1 billion. The entire company was worth $15.68 billion at Friday's close.
The discount is typical in this space. Most crypto treasury firms trade below the value of the assets they hold.
Ether was trading near $2,734 at the time of writing, up over 6% in the last 24 hours. Lee is scheduled to deliver a keynote in Seoul on September 30. The quarter he is betting on begins the next morning.
Read the original story: Tom Lee Says Institutions Are Still Underweight Crypto After Latest BitMine ETH Buy by Lockridge Okoth at beincrypto.com
Source
Yahoo FinanceWestern
Part of this Story
BitMine Adds 27,562 Ether in a Week, Total Holdings Reach 5.98 Million ETH