Tom Lee’s BitMine faces about $7.3 billion in paper losses on its Ethereum treasury as Ether (ETH) traders weigh in on deteriorating sentiment, ETF outflows and a bearish chart pointing toward $1,600.
Key conclusions:
- Bitmine continues to buy ETH even as its losses mount amid a 57% price drop from its August 2025 high.
- ETH price technicals warn of a 25% drop, which would push Bitmine’s losses to more than $10 billion.
Bitmine’s ETH Treasury Dashboard. Source: DropStab.COM
Lee continues to buy ETH despite mounting losses
Ether is down more than 57% from its October 2025 peak near $4,955 on Coinbase, and the selloff has also reduced Ethereum’s market share. ETH’s (ETH.D) dominance has fallen to around 10%, from roughly 15% in August 2025.
Chart of daily performance of ETH.D against ETH/USD. Source: TradingView
BitMine began building its Ethereum treasury in July 2025, days after closing a $250 million private placement to fund the strategy. By July 14, the company exposed holdings of 163,142 ETH, worth around $500 million at the time.
As of last week, BitMine held 5.28 million ETH, or about 4.37% of Ethereum’s total supply, making it the world’s largest publicly traded Ethereum company. This means that Tom Lee’s company continued to accumulate ETH through withdrawals, even as its losses mounted.
Lee did not consider the losses a reason to retreat. He is in February claimed that ETH’s steep decline may offer another buying opportunity, citing Ethereum’s history of V-shaped recoveries after drops of 50% and more.
Related: Ether withdrawal was an ‘attractive opportunity’ to buy 71,672 ETH: Bitmine’s Lee
In May, BitMine said it would moderate its purchases of ETH, but would not abandon the strategy.
The company still expects to reach its goal of owning 5% of Ethereum’s total supply by December, signaling that Lee’s strategy remains focused on long-term accumulation despite mounting losses on paper.
Bitmine’s losses could rise to more than $10 billion if ETH falls further
BitMine could see its Ethereum losses on paper grow to more than $10 billion if ETH’s prevailing bearishness plays out as planned.
Since Sunday, ETH has been hovering near the lower trendline of its prevailing rising wedge, a bearish reversal pattern that often signals a weakening of buyers’ momentum.
ETH/USD daily chart. Source: TradingView
A confirmed break below that support could trigger a measured move towards the $1,600 area, about 25% lower than current prices, by July or August. The target is obtained by subtracting the highest height of the wedge from the breaking point.
Conversely, a decisive bounce from the lower bound may increase upside prospects of 19%-20% towards $2,530, aligning with the upper bound of the wedge and the 200-day exponential moving average (200-day EMA, blue line).
A crash scenario would push BitMine’s unrealized losses to nearly $10.1 billion, based on its reported 5.28 million ETH holdings and an average purchase price of $3,513.
Ethereum traders are turning bearish
Ether’s bearish technical setup overlaps with several other headwinds, such as the recent departures of the Ethereum Foundation, steady ETH ETF outflows, and weakening social media sentiment.
Sentiment for ETH deteriorated sharply in May, with the ratio of bullish to bearish comments falling from over 2:1 in late April to nearly 1:1, according to on-chain data platform Santiment.
Ethereum Social Media Sentiment. Source: Sentiment
“Historically, this type of deterioration tends to occur when traders lose confidence in the short-term direction of an asset,” it said he said in a report on Friday, adding:
“Crypto traders tend to get very emotional during periods of underperformance, and ETH is increasingly seen as ‘dead money’ compared to assets that have shown much stronger momentum in 2026.”
