tl;dr
Peter Thiel and Founders Fund have acquired a 9.1% stake in BitMine Immersion Technologies by purchasing over 5 million shares, following a funding round that included Pantera Capital, Galaxy Digital, and Kraken. BitMine appointed Tom Lee, co-founder of Fundstrat, as Chairman. The company raised fun...
Peter Thiel and his Founders Fund have acquired a 9.1% stake in BitMine Immersion Technologies, according to a Schedule 13G filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This follows the announcement made at the end of June about Founders Fund's investment in BitMine.
The filing reveals that the Thiel-linked group purchased 5,094,000 shares across several entities. Other notable investors involved in June's funding round included Pantera Capital, Galaxy Digital, and Kraken.
BitMine also appointed Tom Lee, co-founder of Fundstrat, as Chairman of the Board. The private placement sold over 55 million shares at $4.50 each, with the proceeds aimed at expanding the company's Ethereum reserves.
As a crypto mining and treasury firm, BitMine has been under the leadership of Tom Lee, who also serves as the CIO of Fundstrat, since June. The company's stock has experienced extreme volatility following the launch of its Ethereum treasury strategy, with closing prices swinging dramatically between $4.26 and $135.
On a recent Monday, BitMine’s stock (ticker BMNR) surged to $59, marking a 45% increase from the prior Friday’s close of $40.62, before settling down to $41.02 by the end of the day, reflecting less than a 1% gain overall.
Interest in Ethereum treasuries has grown significantly in recent weeks. Previously overshadowed by Bitcoin in corporate adoption, Ethereum is now gaining traction, exemplified by SharpLink Gaming's announcement of acquiring $225 million in Ethereum reserves, which it claims are among the industry's largest.
Ethereum is often described as "digital oil," a multi-purpose asset at the core of on-chain finance domains such as staking, gas, collateral, and settlement. These functions make it a complex asset to evaluate compared to Bitcoin’s simpler "store of value" narrative.
Experts suggest Ethereum offers substantial upside potential as an asset of participation and preservation, aligning well with the strategic goals of savvy corporate treasuries. The outlook positions Ethereum as an evolving institutional backbone within the on-chain ecosystem.
Looking ahead, as adoption deepens, digital assets that enable functional utility rather than simply holding value are expected to play a much larger role. Both BitMine and SharpLink have prior connections to the Ethereum community, highlighting the growing institutional interest.
Notably, Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin chairs SharpLink’s board, while the Thiel Foundation supported Ethereum’s other co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, with a $100,000 grant in 2014, facilitating his full-time development of the platform after leaving university.