What Tom Lee Really Meant by Calling BitMine’s ETH Losses “a Feature”

Ethereum treasury firm BitMine Immersion Technologies has come under renewed scrutiny after data circulating on X showed the company sitting on nearly $6.6 billion in unrealized losses on its Ethereum holdings. The figures reignited debate over whether large corporate ETH treasuries could create future selling pressure and cap Ethereum’s price.

The discussion escalated after FullStack CEO Flood posted that BitMine, listed as BMNR, was holding a massive paper loss and suggested the ETH accumulated by the firm would eventually be sold into the market.

Flood wrote on X: “BMNR is now sitting on a -$6.6 Billion dollar unrealized LOSS on the ETH they’ve accumulated. This is ETH in the future that will be sold, putting a future ceiling on ETH prices. Tom Lee was the final exit liquidity for OG ETH whales to get out of their worthless token.”

The post included a screenshot detailing BitMine’s treasury position, showing a current balance of $9.03 billion, a total invested amount of $15.65 billion, and unrealized losses totaling $6,614,136,691. The data listed realized profit at $0.00, indicating that losses remain on paper rather than booked through asset sales.

Flood also resurfaced his own post from November 2025, where he had made a similar claim when BitMine’s unrealized losses were reported at $3.1 billion, arguing again that the firm’s ETH holdings would eventually become sell-side pressure.

Tom Lee Responds: “This Misses the Point of an Ethereum Treasury”

Tom Lee, Chairman of BitMine and a long-time market strategist, responded directly to the criticism, stating that the narrative misunderstands the purpose of an Ethereum treasury strategy.

Replying to the post, Lee wrote: 

“These tweets miss the point of an ethereum treasury: 

• BitMine is designed to track the price of $ETH
• outperform over the cycle (think up ETH)
• crypto is in a downturn, so naturally ETH is down”

Lee emphasized that unrealized losses during market drawdowns are expected for treasury vehicles designed to mirror an underlying asset.

He added:

“$BMNR will see ‘unrealized’ losses on our holdings of ETH during these times:

• it’s not a bug
• it’s a feature
• shall we call out all index ETFs for their losses?”

Concluding his response, Lee stated: “Bottom line: ethereum is the future of finance”

Debate rekindles as ETH remains under pressure

The exchange comes at a time when Ethereum has been under notable selling pressure across the broader crypto market. ETH dropped sharply over the weekend, briefly falling below $2,200 before recovering modestly.

At the time of writing, Ethereum is trading around $2,264. The price is down over 2% in the last 24 hours and down nearly 25% over the past week, as per CoinMarketCap.

The weakness in ETH prices has again drawn attention to large holders, especially corporate treasuries such as BitMine, which now control a notable share of Ethereum’s circulating supply.

BitMine continues accumulating ETH despite market decline

Earlier this week, The Crypto Times reported that BitMine added 41,788 ETH to its treasury during the recent price drop, continuing to accumulate even as the broader market remained under pressure.

With the latest purchase, BitMine now holds approximately 4,285,125 ETH, valued at around $10.1 billion at current prices. This equals about 3.55% of Ethereum’s total supply, making BitMine the largest Ethereum treasury globally and the second largest crypto treasury overall after MicroStrategy.

Apart from ETH, the company also holds 193 Bitcoin, nearly $586 million in cash, a $200 million stake in Beast Industries, and a $20 million stake in Eightco Holding.

BitMine has staked close to 2.9 million ETH, earning an estimated $188 million annually through staking rewards. The company has said its MAVAN network is expected to increase staking rewards further over time.

Unrealized losses vs. long-term treasury strategy

Critics say BitMine’s growing unrealized losses could lead to future selling pressure if the company decides to sell part of its ETH holdings. BitMine’s leadership, however, maintains that such losses are expected in a long-term treasury strategy that tracks the price of Ethereum.

Lee has compared the approach to index-based investment products, which also record paper losses during market downturns without being forced to sell underlying assets.

As Ethereum moves through another volatile phase, the debate reflects a broader question in the crypto market: whether large ETH treasuries represent long term conviction or potential future supply.

For now, BitMine continues to add to its ETH holdings, even as prices remain under pressure.

Also Read: Ethereum Layer-2 Vision No Longer Makes Sense: Vitalik Buterin