Bitmine Buys ETH for $199M as Smart Money Traders Short ETH Coinstar

BitMine Immersion Technologies, the world’s largest corporate holder of Ether, continues to buy on the dip, despite the industry’s most successful traders betting on a fall in the price of Ethereum.

BitMine has acquired $199 million worth of Ether (ETH) over the past two days, through the acquisition of $68 million of ETH on Saturday and the purchase of another $130.7 million on Friday. according to to the blockchain data platform Lookonchain.

With the latest investments, BitMine now holds $11.3 billion, or 3.08%, of the total Ether supply, moving closer to its 5% accumulation goal, according to data from StrategicEthReserve.

BitMine’s steady accumulation is a strong sign of belief in Ether’s long-term growth potential. The company holds an additional $882 million in cash reserves, which can be used for more ether accumulation.

*The largest corporate owners of Ether. Source: Strategicethreserve.xyz*

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BitMine’s investment comes amid a significant slowdown in digital asset treasury (DAT) activity, which saw corporate Ether acquisitions fall 81% in three months, from 1.97 million Ether in August to 370,000 net ETH acquired in November.

Despite the slowdown, BitMine accumulated the lion’s share of 679,000 Ether worth $2.13 billion over the past month.

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Smart money traders are betting on the price of Ether falling

The crypto industry’s top-performing traders by returns, tracked as “smart money” traders on Nansen’s blockchain intelligence platform, are betting on a near-term depreciation in Ether’s price.

*Smart money traders are on top of permanent futures positions on Hyperliquid. Source: Nansen*

Smart money traders added $2.8 million in short positions over the past 24 hours, as the cohort was net short Ether, with a cumulative short position of $21 million, according to Nansen.

Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs), a significant driver of liquidity for Ether, also continue to lack demand.

*Ethereum ETF Flow USD, in millions. Source: Farside Investors*

Spot Ether ETFs recorded $75.2 million in net positive outflows for the second day in a row on Friday, following $1.4 billion in monthly outflows in November, according to for Farside Investors.