Tom Lee calls BitMine’s unrealized ETH losses “a feature, not a bug”

BitMine CEO Tom Lee has pushed back against claims that the company’s large unrealized Ethereum losses could cap ETH’s upside. Critics on social media argued that BitMine has accumulated roughly $6.6 billion in unrealized losses and would eventually create selling pressure by offloading assets near market tops. Some commenters even labeled Lee “exit liquidity” for early ETH holders.

Lee rejected the accusations, saying losses during downturns are “a feature, not a bug” of a strategic Ethereum treasury. BitMine’s goal, he explained, is to track ETH and outperform it across a full market cycle – which makes short-term drawdowns an expected part of a model akin to index ETFs.

BitMine holds roughly 4.285 million ETH – about 3.5% of circulating supply – making it the largest corporate Ethereum treasury among public companies. The value of the holdings peaked near $14 billion in late 2025 and early 2026 but has since fallen below $10 billion as ETH dropped around 30% in a month. BitMine shares also declined 30% over the same period.

The downturn revived discussion around mNAV – situations where a company’s market cap falls below the value of its crypto holdings. In such cases, issuing new shares becomes unattractive, limiting a company’s ability to expand its position through equity issuance. Ethereum treasury companies are trading at discounts to their net asset value, which naturally curbs both dilution-driven pressure and the risk of large treasury sales.

Despite the drawdown, BitMine is not reducing exposure – it continues to buy. The company recently expanded its staking pool and added nearly 42,000 ETH to its treasury, reinforcing its long-term accumulation strategy.

Institutional interest also remains strong: ARK Invest used the recent pullback to increase its stake. Lee reiterated that volatility does not change the company’s thesis: ETH is a cornerstone asset of future financial infrastructure, and short-term market noise is negligible compared to its long-term potential.

BitMine is not alone in facing a treasury drawdown. Strategy – the largest publicly traded bitcoin holder – also saw unrealized losses when BTC briefly slipped into the mid-$70,000 range. Like BitMine, it continues to follow an accumulation-first approach.