Tom Lee’s Bitmine Aims to Hold 5% of ETH: ‘Game On,’ Says Lubin, SharpLink's Chairman

Two unlikely companies — SharpLink Gaming (SBET) and Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) — are redefining what it means to be an ETH-first corporation. Together, they’ve acquired more ETH than the Ethereum Foundation itself, propelling a growing trend among public firms treating ETH not as a speculative asset, but as a core part of their balance sheets.

SharpLink Gaming, a Minneapolis-based fan engagement and iGaming performance firm, has emerged as one of the largest ETH corporate holders in the world. The company currently holds 280,706 ETH, a position currently worth just over $1 billion. SharpLink raised over $400 million through at-the-market (ATM) equity offerings to fund its accumulation strategy.

Rather than sitting idle, the ETH is staked for yield. SharpLink also publishes an “ETH-per-share” metric, positioning itself as a transparent bridge between regulated public equity markets and the decentralized finance ecosystem.

But the title of largest ETH corporate holder now belongs to Bitmine Immersion Technologies. Chaired by longtime Wall Street strategist and Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee, Bitmine has accumulated 300,657 ETH as of today, worth around $1.13 billion. Lee, who also leads Bitmine’s strategic vision, has drawn comparisons between his firm’s strategy and MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin playbook — raising capital, deploying into ETH, and staking for yield.

Bitmine’s approach goes even further, aiming to control up to 5% of ether's total circulating supply. Its operations leverage cash flow from industrial-scale crypto mining and hosting, while using financial instruments like ETH options to deepen its treasury. Backed by notable investors including Peter Thiel, Bitmine hopes to function as an ETH-native reserve institution.

The rivalry burst into the open on Saturday when Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin weighed in on X, calling the contest between SharpLink and Bitmine a mix of “cut-throat one-upmanship” and potential collaboration. “We will both compete, hard,” he wrote, adding that while they might try to out-buy each other stacking ETH, they could also “hold hands and collaboratively explain the paradigm shift to decentralization.” He ended with a challenge: “Game on.”

This corporate arms race appears to be shaping ETH’s market momentum. Over the past 24 hours, ETH has climbed 6.5% to roughly $3,800, extending a seven-day rally of nearly 27%. That price action can, at least in part, be explained by the sheer scale of ETH accumulation underway at SharpLink Gaming and Bitmine Immersion Technologies.