Bitmine Immersion Technologies chairman Tom Lee declared Wednesday that the crypto market’s recent slump amounted to a “mini crypto winter” that is already drawing to a close. The supporting evidence appears in the filing.
Speaking during a keynote at Paris Blockchain Week 2026, Lee projected Ether could surpass $60,000 over the next few years, even as Bitmine absorbed a staggering quarterly loss tied to its massive ETH holdings.
The remarks carry weight given their timing. A Tuesday SEC filing revealed Bitmine posted a $3.82 billion net loss in the first quarter of 2026, driven almost entirely by more than $3.78 billion in unrealized losses on its cryptocurrency portfolio, against just $11 million in total revenue.
Lee's Thesis: Equities Have Bottomed, ETH Will Follow
Lee argued that equity markets bottom on bad news, and that the geopolitical shock of the US-Israel conflict with Iran provided exactly that kind of catalyst.
He pointed to historical patterns where stock markets have found floors shortly after war outbreaks, suggesting the worst of the macro pressure may already be priced in.
On Ether specifically, Lee said ETH is “probably on its way to 60,000” if his broader market thesis holds. He later cited $62,000 as a fair-value scenario, derived from Ethereum reaching roughly one-quarter of Bitcoin’s projected long-term market value.
Lee attributed the potential rally to two structural drivers: the accelerating tokenization of real-world assets and agentic artificial intelligence applications built on Ethereum’s smart contract network.
ETH has fallen roughly 43% since October 2025 and was trading near $2,327 at the time of Lee’s speech, well below Bitmine’s disclosed average cost basis of $3,660 per coin according to data tracked at Bitminetracker.
Lee acknowledged the drawdown was “unusual” precisely because it did not coincide with a broad bear market in equities, breaking a historical correlation that crypto traders have long relied on.
Bitmine Keeps Buying Despite Billion-Dollar Paper Losses
Bitmine did not pull back on accumulation despite the red ink. The company announced a purchase of 71,524 ETH on Monday, days after uplisting to the New York Stock Exchange from NYSE American on April 9.
The firm now controls roughly 4.04% of the total Ether supply, making it the largest corporate ETH holder globally.
Data from StrategicEthReserve shows Bitmine holds approximately 4.6 million ETH, currently valued at over $10 billion. SharpLink Gaming ranks second among corporate Ether holders, with 863,000 ETH worth about $1.89 billion.
Bitmine and Exodus Movement are the only two Ether treasury companies to publicly disclose new ETH purchases within the past 30 days.
Bitmine also reported $10.2 million in ETH staking revenue during the quarter, a figure that underscores the company’s strategy of treating its holdings as yield-generating infrastructure rather than a passive speculative position.
Whether that income can offset further unrealized losses depends heavily on whether Lee’s recovery call proves accurate.
The broader crypto market has yet to confirm the bottom Lee described.
ETH remains deep in negative territory from its late 2025 highs, and the gap between Lee’s $62,000 fair-value target and the current spot price is substantial enough that even optimistic timelines would require a multi-year rally of historic proportions.
Not Financial Advice: This article is for informational purposes only. Crypto investments are highly volatile. Always do your own research.
