April 21, 2023 – Shares in BitMine Immersion Technologies surged following the announcement that Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee would join its board. The company was halted twice Thursday after its stock gained 130% intraday (ending the day at an initial decline in after-hours trading).
Market Activity Summary
- Monday’s Appointing of Tom Lee as Board Chair Triggered ~1,900% Rally from $6.00 to $135.
- Investors who bought in a $250M private placement at $4.50 per share (55M shares) face large paper gains but cannot sell yet due to restricted liquidity.
- Crypto treasury companies SharpLink Gaming (-70%) and Upexi experienced sharp declines following the U.S. SEC deeming their registration filings effective.
Lee, a familiar voice on CNBC, discussed BitMine’s intended Ethereum treasury strategy on “Squawk Box.” With potential regulatory frameworks for stablecoins progressing in Congress, he anticipates major banks engaging in Ethereum staking to support new dollar-pegged tokens. “We’re trying to get in front of that by creating a treasury vehicle,” Lee commented, stressing BitMine’s strategy to enhance shareholder value via Ethereum ownership growth through staking and DeFi.
BitMine, primarily a Texas- and Trinidad-based Bitcoin miner, reported raising $250M via an informed private placement co-led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, Pantera Capital, FalconX, Digital Currency Group, and Lee. The deal involved 55 million shares sold at $4.50. Post-placement, BitMine has 1.4M floating shares.
The “Yahoo Finance” data shows BitMine’s stock fluctuating on Thursday: halted twice morning, closed at $135 then dropped to $118 post-market. This intense volatility directly followed the Lee appointment and anniversary of the significant share price spike.
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