Ether vault company Bitmine Immersion Technologies has been included in a preliminary list for potential inclusion in the Russell 3000 index, a move that chairman Tom Lee hinted could give the company’s shares a tailwind.
FTSE Russell, a subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange Group, published Friday’s preliminary index listing for the Russell 3000, its index that tracks the 3,000 largest companies in the US.
Lee he said in X’s announcement on Saturday that Bitmine could be included in the Russell 1000, an index that tracks the largest 1,000 US companies, due to the index’s minimum market capitalization threshold of $5.7 billion. Bitmine’s market capitalization was $10.15 billion as of Friday’s market close.
Lee said that “many active managers only buy stocks in the Russell 1000,” adding that it is estimated that up to 25% of the market capitalization of stocks included in the index is held by passive index funds or exchange-traded funds.
Source: Tom Lee
The inclusion of Bitmine in the Russell 1000 would place it is in the same index as major US large-cap stocks, including tech giants Nvidia Corporation, Microsoft and Apple, and could trigger automatic passive fund purchases, giving traditional investors indirect exposure to its Ether holdings.
FTSE Russell will provide further list updates on 5 June, 12 June and 18 June, with the newly renewed indices taking effect after the US market close on 26 June.
Bitmine shares are down 30% year to date
Shares in Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) are down below over 30% YTD and closed Friday trading at $18.88. The company announced plans to build an Ether vault in July 2025. By July 3, its stock had soared to more than $135. Company exposed holdings of 163,142 Ether worth about $500 million on July 14 of the same year.
Bitmine shares are down more than 30% since the beginning of the year. Source: Google Finance
As of last week, Bitmine held 5.28 million Ether, or about 4.37% of Ethereum’s total supply, with the company’s ultimate goal of holding 5% of the token’s circulating supply of 120.7 million. In order to reach its goal of over 6 million Ether, Bitmine needs about 756,538 more in its supply.
Related: Ether withdrawal was an ‘attractive opportunity’ to buy 71,672 ETH: Bitmine’s Lee
Ether is down more than 57% from its all-time high of $4,946, according to for CoinGecko. BitMine also has an estimated $7.3 billion in paper losses due to the price drop.
However, Lee previously claimed that the steep decline in Ether may offer another buying opportunity and he said last Monday that the company invested most of its stock, with annual investment income of $289 million.
Magazine: Polymarket Seeks Japan Entry, Harvard Dumps Entire ETH Position: Hodler’s Digest, May 17-23
