Tom Lee’s BitMine faces about $7.3 billion in paper losses on its Ethereum treasury as Ether (ETH) merchants weigh worsening sentiment, ETF outflows and a bearish chart setup pointing towards $1,600.
Key takeaways:
- Bitmine retains shopping for ETH whilst its losses mount amid the 57% worth drawdown from the August 2025 excessive.
- ETH worth technicals warn of a 25% drop, which might push Bitmine’s losses over $10 billion.
Bitmine’s ETH treasury dashboard. Supply: DropStab.COM
Lee continues shopping for ETH regardless of mounting losses
Ether has fallen greater than 57% from its October 2025 peak close to $4,955 on Coinbase, with the sell-off additionally eroding Ethereum’s market share. ETH’s dominance (ETH.D) has dropped to about 10%, down from roughly 15% in August 2025.
ETH.D vs. ETH/USD every day efficiency chart. Supply: TradingView
BitMine started constructing its Ethereum treasury in July 2025, days after closing a $250 million non-public placement to fund the technique. By July 14, the corporate disclosed holdings of 163,142 ETH, value about $500 million on the time.
As of final week, BitMine held 5.28 million ETH, or about 4.37% of Ethereum’s complete provide, making it the world’s largest publicly traded Ether treasury firm. Meaning Tom Lee’s agency stored accumulating ETH by means of the drawdown, whilst its losses widened.
Lee has not handled the losses as a cause to retreat. In February, he argued that ETH’s steep drawdown might supply one other shopping for alternative, citing Ethereum’s historical past of V-shaped recoveries after 50%-plus declines.
Associated: Ether pullback was ‘enticing alternative’ for 71,672 ETH purchase: Bitmine’s Lee
In Could, BitMine mentioned it could average the tempo of its ETH purchases, however not abandon the technique.
The corporate nonetheless expects to achieve its purpose of proudly owning 5% of Ethereum’s complete provide by December, signaling that Lee’s technique stays targeted on long-term accumulation regardless of widening paper losses.
Bitmine’s losses might swell to over $10 billion if ETH falls additional
BitMine may see its Ethereum paper losses swell to over $10 billion if ETH’s prevailing bearish setup performs out as meant.
As of Sunday, ETH was hovering close to the decrease development line of its prevailing rising wedge, a bearish reversal sample that usually alerts fading purchaser momentum.
ETH/USD every day chart. Supply: TradingView
A confirmed breakdown under that assist may set off a measured transfer towards the $1,600 space, down about 25% from present costs, by July or August. The goal comes from subtracting the wedge’s most peak from the breakdown level.
Conversely, a decisive rebound from the decrease boundary might improve the percentages of a 19%–20% rise towards $2,530, aligning with the wedge’s higher boundary and the 200-day exponential transferring common (200-day EMA, blue line).
The breakdown state of affairs would elevate BitMine’s unrealized losses to just about $10.1 billion, primarily based on its reported 5.28 million ETH holdings and common buy worth of $3,513.
Ethereum merchants flip bearish
Ether’s bearish technical setup overlaps with a number of different headwinds, reminiscent of latest Ethereum Basis departures, persistent ETH ETF outflows, and weakening social media sentiment.
ETH sentiment deteriorated sharply in Could, with the bullish-to-bearish remark ratio falling from above 2:1 in late April to just about 1:1, based on on-chain information platform Santiment.
Ethereum social media sentiment. Supply: Santiment
“Traditionally, this type of deterioration tends to occur when merchants lose confidence in an asset’s short-term path,” it mentioned in a Friday report, including:
“Crypto merchants are inclined to turn out to be extremely emotional in periods of underperformance, and ETH has more and more turn out to be seen as ‘useless cash’ in comparison with property which have proven a lot stronger momentum in 2026.”