Who controls Ethereum now? BitMine’s $1b ETH holdings surpass Vitalik’s foundation

BitMine now holds 300,657 ETH worth $1 billion, eclipsing the Ethereum Foundation’s $665 million holdings. This corporate accumulation raises new questions about influence over Ethereum’s future direction.

On July 17, BitMine Immersion announced that its Ethereum (ETH) holdings had surpassed $1 billion, more than triple the $250 million it raised in a private placement just a week earlier.

The Nevada-based company disclosed a total of 300,657 ETH on its books, overtaking the Ethereum Foundation’s treasury balance, which stood at approximately $665 million as of July 15, according to Arkham Intelligence.

The milestone, which BitMine reached by leaning into its new capital markets strategy, cements its place as the largest publicly traded corporate holder of Ethereum and marks a dramatic turn from its origins as a Bitcoin mining operation.

That a for-profit miner now holds more ETH than the network’s founding entity is no small development. BitMine’s chairman, Fundstrat’s Tom Lee, framed the move as part of a broader strategy to eventually stake 5% of all ETH in circulation—a threshold that would give the company outsized influence over the network’s security and governance.

At the time, that figure already raised eyebrows. But by July 17, BitMine’s stash had swelled to over $1 billion, confirming what many in the market suspected: the firm is executing a high-conviction strategy to corner a meaningful share of Ethereum’s supply, and to stake it.

Chairman Tom Lee made no secret of the ambition, stating the company’s goal is to accumulate and stake 5% of all ETH in circulation. That would give BitMine a seat at the table in Ethereum’s validator-driven security architecture and future governance conversations.

This rapid-fire accumulation has drawn both curiosity and capital. A regulatory filing this week revealed that Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund had taken a 9.1% stake in BitMine, sending BMNR shares up nearly 27% in pre-market trading on July 16.

The stock added another 7% following the latest disclosure, before retracing to $43.78 at the time of writing. While the Ethereum Foundation still shapes protocol-level development, BitMine now controls more ETH on paper, marking a symbolic, if not yet structural, shift in Ethereum’s evolving power map.

The move comes amid rising interest in Ether-based corporate treasuries, with firms like SharpLink Gaming also piling in. As of July 15, SharpLink held 280,706 ETH, valued at over $960 million, until BitMine leapfrogged it two days later.

The race to hold ETH isn’t just about exposure anymore. It’s about influence, staking power, and institutional signaling. And for now, BitMine appears to be leading the charge.

Ethereum had surged over 6% in the last 24 hours to exchange hands at $3,427 at the time of writing, crypto.news data shows.

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