BitMine Immersion Technologies, the crypto investment firm chaired by prominent analyst Tom Lee, has staked an additional 86,848 Ethereum (ETH), valued at approximately $277.5 million. This latest move brings the company's total staked ETH to a staggering 1,771,936 tokens, worth roughly $5.66 billion at current prices.
The firm, which is backed by major institutional investors including Peter Thiel's Founders Fund and Cathie Wood's ARK Invest, is now the largest Ethereum treasury holder globally. A significant portion of its holdings is locked in staking contracts. Last week, Tom Lee outlined BitMine's ambition to become the largest staking provider across crypto markets, projecting annual revenue of about $374 million based on current reward rates.
The strategic shift towards staking instead of selling allows BitMine to generate stable revenue streams while maintaining long-term exposure to ETH. This approach reduces the risk of large-scale sell-offs impacting the market and aligns with Lee's frequently stated long-term bullish outlook on cryptocurrencies. By locking ETH in staking contracts, the tokens become illiquid, which can reduce the circulating supply available on exchanges and potentially provide price support over time.
The investment coincides with a significant surge in overall Ethereum staking demand. As of January 20, 2026, the staking entry queue has spiked to about 2.7 million ETH, its highest level since mid-2023. Concurrently, the staking exit queue has dropped sharply for the first time since mid-2025, a development analysts say reduces short-term selling pressure as less ETH is waiting to be released back into the market.
However, a security researcher has raised a red flag regarding recent network activity. Andrey Sergeenkov noted that active Ethereum addresses recently doubled to 8 million within a month, with around 2.7 million new addresses appearing in the week starting January 12—about 170% above normal levels. Daily transactions also moved above 2.8 million. Sergeenkov suggests this record activity may be linked to cheaper "address poisoning" attacks, a form of spam where attackers send small transfers from look-alike wallet addresses. The cost of such attacks fell after network fees dropped more than 60% following the Fusaka upgrade in early December.
