Ethereum Foundation sells 5,000 ETH to BitMine as ETH rebounds above $2K

The Ethereum Foundation has sold 5,000 ETH, worth just over $10.2 million, to publicly traded treasury firm BitMine Immersion Technologies, marking the second time the foundation has offloaded part of its holdings to an Ethereum treasury company.

This move is part of the Foundation’s ongoing treasury management strategy, funding core operations such as protocol research, ecosystem development, and community grants. The sale comes as Ethereum’s price has rebounded over the past week, climbing above the $2,000.

The Ethereum Foundation announced the sale in a post on X, stating it sold 5,000 ETH at an average price of around $2,042.96 per coin. That puts the transaction above $10.2 million. 

The foundation said the sale is intended to assist its work throughout the Ethereum ecosystem. The funds will go toward core activities, including protocol R&D, community grants, developer assistance, and other project- and network-related areas. 

This is not the first time the foundation has sold ETH directly to a corporate treasury company. The foundation sold 10,000 ETH, valued at around $30 million at the time, to Sharplink in July last year, making the company the second-largest holder of Ethereum by value. 

Selling portions of its treasury across different market cycles allows the Ethereum Foundation to directly fund development without relying solely on donations or other sources.

BitMine remains the largest ETH treasury holder

The buyer of the latest transaction, BitMine Immersion Technologies, has built one of the world’s largest corporate Ethereum holdings. As of early last week, the company said it owned more than 4.5 million ETH. 

From recent market prices, those holdings are worth about $9.4 billion. And that makes BitMine the largest known Ethereum treasury company, surpassing other firms that hold the cryptocurrency as a balance-sheet asset. 

BitMine is chaired by investor Tom Lee, who has repeatedly expressed strong long-term confidence in Ethereum. While there has been recent price volatility, the company has continued to add ETH to its reserves. 

BitMine has positioned itself as a corporate vehicle that accumulates and holds Ethereum, just as some companies have built large Bitcoin reserves. 

The strategy assumes that Ethereum will gain value over time as its blockchain continues to power decentralized applications, financial services, and digital infrastructure.

Corporate crypto treasuries face massive paper losses

Even as Ethereum recently moved back above $2,000, companies that purchased the asset around its peak are currently sitting with significant unrealized losses. 

ETH peaked around $4,946 last August. The price of the cryptocurrency has plummeted since then and has, in fact, lost significant value alongside much of the broader crypto market. 

Since many treasury firms accumulated ETH near those highs, the market value of their holdings is down significantly. It is estimated that BitMine alone carries $7.5 Billion of unrealized losses due to the gap between its acquisition price and market value. 

But these losses are only felt on paper, since the company has not sold its holdings. An unrealized loss occurs when an asset’s value declines below what an individual paid for it. 

The loss is “real” only if the asset is sold at the lower price. This is a well-established idea in financial markets. Investors in stocks, commodities, or bonds often experience similar swings in value without actually selling their investments. 

Crypto markets magnify this effect, in large part because digital assets often shift more quickly than traditional investments. As a result, companies with large cryptocurrency treasuries can see their balance sheets exposed to extreme market swings. BitMine and its leadership continue to hold positive insights into Ethereum’s long-term outlook, despite the swings. 

The cryptocurrency market might be approaching the final phase of what Lee called a “mini crypto winter,” and recent market data also point to a bit of recovery. ETH has increased about 5% over the last week and about 9% over the last month.

There’s a middle ground between leaving money in the bank and rolling the dice in crypto. Start with this free video on decentralized finance.