Bitmine Immersion (BMNR), the ether treasury strategy firm helmed by Fundstrat’s Thomas Lee, is the latest red-hot crypto proxy play in town.
The company’s shares more than doubled on Thursday topping $140, now rallying over 3,000% in less than a week since the firm announced the raising of $250 million by selling shares to acquire ETH.
The private placement offering, priced at $4.50 per share and due to close today, attracted institutional investors including Founders Fund, Pantera, FalconX, Kraken, Galaxy Digital, DCG.
At its core, Bitmine is positioning itself as a publicly traded proxy for ether exposure, similar to how Michael Saylor’s Strategy (MSTR) became a leveraged bitcoin bet. The approach has gained traction recently as investors look for new ways to access crypto through public equities.
The firm originally focused on crypto mining using immersion cooling and held $16 million in bitcoin prior to the fundraising.
Sharplink déjà vu
But a similar crypto treasury stock’s rapid rise and fall may offer a cautionary tale.
The parabolic rise in BMNR mirrors the trading behavior of Sharplink Gaming (SBET), another public company that repositioned itself as an ETH treasury firm last month under the leadership of Consensys co-founder Joseph Lubin.
Sharplink soared as much as 4,000% in days following its $450 million fundraising announcement. Shares since plunged over 90% from peak as the firm closed its ETH acquisition and early investors in the private placement sold stock locking in their profits.
Bitmine’s valuation, with a market capitalization over $800 million at current prices, already prices in aggressive assumptions about the firm’s future ETH gains.
Retail investors chasing the momentum should tread carefully.
