The historic cryptocurrency market crash in October forced the liquidation of leveraged trades across the board, causing prices to plummet and paving the way for bold buy-in by institutional investors. The most influential company was Tom Lee’s Bitmine Immersion Technologies. The giant Ethereum treasury company rapidly expanded its already vast ETH coffers by acquiring an additional 128,718 ETH (worth about $480 million) immediately after the crash.
Bitmine gains momentum
According to real-time data shared by on-chain analytics firm Lookonchain, Bitmine moved quickly following the crash. Over 128,000 ETH was withdrawn from major exchanges FalconX and Kraken using six newly activated wallets that are likely related to Bitmine.
These transfers were backed by blockchain explorers and were part of a pattern of large-scale withdrawals and positioning by institutional whale accounts through the crash window.
Bitmine is led by Fundstrat Capital CIO Tom Lee and has accumulated over 2.83 million ETH to date. With the latest harvest, their holdings have jumped to around 2.96 million ETH, which is almost 2.5% of the total Ethereum supply. It is by far the largest ETH vault among publicly traded companies, and second only to MicroStrategy in overall cryptocurrencies.
Market background
The buying spree unfolded on the heels of President Trump’s surprise announcement of 100% tariffs on Chinese software imports, along with stricter restrictions on U.S. exports of rare earth minerals.
This announcement triggered a series of events. Bitcoin fell by as much as 13%, Ethereum crashed by 20%, and the entire derivatives market wiped out more than $20 billion in open interest in a matter of hours. Altcoins suffered steep declines, with deep liquidity and confident buyers rare, with the exception of Bitcoin, which reloaded amid the chaos.
According to transaction logs, Bitcoin purchases were concentrated around the time of the crash, with ETH being purchased at levels as low as $3,728. The acquisition coincides with active positions from institutional whales and some OTC players, with Lookonchain reporting additional multi-million dollar accumulations at market lows.
There was also speculation online that BlackRock had timed the market crash and scooped up 45,000 BTC. However, these claims are not supported by public data.
Impact on the market and future prospects
Bitmine’s continued accumulation despite recording over $2 billion in unrealized volatility losses due to price declines demonstrates the institution’s confidence in both Ethereum’s long-term value and the network’s fundamentals. KOL and investor Ted Pillows commented:
“Institutions are not afraid to buy Ethereum.”
Their financial strategy is built with scale in mind. Bitmine continues to engage in an aggressive “buy the buy” strategy even in moments of heightened volatility. Recent purchases also facilitated staking, with Bitmine using validator nodes and liquidity protocols to earn annual yields on top of price exposure.
Once leveraged sellers are cleared out, buyers of BitMine and similar stocks reposition themselves for long-term gains, and the fall in volatility after the crash could support price stability.