Tom Lee Says Institutions Are Still Underweight Crypto After Latest BitMine ETH Buy

BitMine, the crypto treasury firm, acquired an additional 27,562 ether last week, raising its holdings to 5.98 million tokens, valued at roughly $16.3 billion. However, they remain 5% short of their goal, having been chasing this target for 15 months. Chairman Tom Lee anticipates a surge in institutional investments in the crypto sector before the year concludes.

His company, valued at less than its crypto assets, has been buying ether weekly since June 30, 2025, and claims to be 98% of the way to owning 5% of all ether. Despite having no supply limit, new tokens are continually minted, making the 5% threshold constantly moving. BitMine is 121,000 tokens away from reaching its target. Tom Lee, in a recent company release, highlighted Ether's impressive outperformance compared to the S&P 500, outpacing it by around 65 percentage points since mid-June.

Despite the underweight stance on crypto by institutions in 2026, partially due to the AI stocks' early 2026 dominance, Lee predicts a significant increase in institutional exposure in the final quarter of the year. BitMine's total assets, including cash and private stakes, amount to $17.1 billion, with the company valued at $15.68 billion as of Friday's close.

The discount to the crypto holdings' value is common among crypto treasury firms. Ether's price was near $2,734, having risen over 6% in the previous 24 hours. Lee will deliver a keynote speech in Seoul on September 30, marking the start of his betting quarter the following day.