The world’s largest Ethereum (ETH) treasury company, BinMine, has just bought another US$ 200 million worth of ETH. The NYSE-listed firm now holds 3% of ETH’s total supply, worth about US$10.2 billion. The company on Monday also said it owns 192 bitcoin, a $38 million stake in Eightco Holdings, and $800 million in cash. The company aims to continue investing in ETH until it holds 5% of the coin’s supply.
A pivotal moment in the modernization of finance
The firm’s chairman, Tom Lee, expects ETH to enter a supercycle as it capitalizes on a transformative shift of traditional financial markets moving onto the blockchain – and in particular onto Ethereum – a development described by BitMine as a pivotal moment in the modernization of the U.S. financial system.
The Ethereum blockchain ecosystem currently holds some US$165 billion in stabecloin reserves, positioning itself among the world’s highest and exceeding some national reserve pools of major nation-states – including Singapore and India. According to data by The Block, stablecoins on Ethereum saw a total of $2.82 trillion in on-chain volume in October, surpassing the previous all-time high of $1.94 trillion set in September. This makes it relatively on par with Visa – which is also migrating to the blockchain along with its rival Mastercard.
Migrating on-chain: SWIFT, Visa and Mastercard make their move
As we reported yesterday, the world’s largest cross-border payments system, SWIFT, is now in the process of migrating its decades-old system onto the blockchain, and has selected an Ethereum Layer 2 chain, Linea. Earlier this month, the world’s largest bank, JP Morgan, also placed a major bet on ETH by purchasing 1.97 million BitMine shares worth $102.5 million. The bank’s bold move underscores growing interest from Wall Street in companies tied to Ethereum accumulation and infrastructure. The demand for ETH is being driven by its blockchain technology and use of smart contracts, which is gaining strong traction from the movement of traditional financial markets onto the blockchain.
“The biggest macro trade for he next 10 – 15 years”
According to Lee, Ethereum’s long-term growth case rests on two structural drivers: the creation of a blockchain-based token economy fueled by AI, and the financial sector’s shift toward on-chain settlement and asset issuance.
Lee has called ETH “the biggest macro trade for the next 10-15 years.” That’s a very bold statement. But he is putting money where his mouth is.