Ether treasury company Bitmine Immersion Technologies added more than 27,000 Ether to its holdings last week as the firm joined the Russell index tracking the largest 1,000 US companies.
Bitmine said Monday that after its latest $43 million purchase, it held just over 5.7 million Ether (ETH) bought at an average price of $1,569 per token and held 4.7% of the ETH supply of 120.7 million tokens, closer to its goal of owning 5% of Ether’s supply.
Bitmine chairman Tom Lee said the past week “was a challenging one for crypto investors as ETH fell by 8%, even as Ethereum witnessed notable positive developments such as the creation of Ethlabs, and even the Bank of England softened its stance around stablecoins.”
The latest Ether purchase adds to Bitmine’s lead as the largest public corporate holder of Ether. Meanwhile, its inclusion in the Russell 1000 means more investor demand for Bitmine shares, as many mutual funds, ETFs and pension funds track the Russell 1000 and must buy the stock once it’s added.
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“Being added to the Russell 1000 is expected to add hundreds and possibly thousands of additional institutional investors as equity owners of Bitmine,” Lee said.
Lee had said in May, when Bitmine was first considered for the Russell index, that up to 25% of the market cap of a stock included in the index is held by passive index funds.
Shares in Bitmine (BMNR) gained 1.7% Monday to end trading at $13.80, but the company’s stock has slid 9% over the past trading week alongside Ether.
Shares in Bitmine rose Monday, stemming losses over the past trading week. Source: Google Finance
Meanwhile, rival crypto treasury firms Sharplink and Forward Industries, along with crypto exchange Gemini and crypto services firm Galaxy Digital, were also added to the Russell 3000 Index on Friday, which tracks the largest 3,000 US companies.
Ether fell below $1,600 last week, with Lee commenting that “it is not surprising to see ‘window dressing’ leading to investors reducing their holdings in assets that have fallen in the past three months.”
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