BitMine committed over $1 billion worth of Ether into staking during a concentrated 48-hour operation in late December 2025, signaling a corporate treasury pivot toward yield-bearing crypto reserves. By staking roughly 342,560 ETH and building a treasury that now exceeds 4.06 million ETH—about 3.41% of total supply—the company is explicitly positioning itself to pursue an eventual 5% stake of total issuance.

BitMine’s allocation is designed to turn idle ETH into a producing reserve by capturing staking rewards while accepting proof-of-stake liquidity constraints. Staking generates ongoing rewards but restricts immediate liquidity because tokens are committed to validation and network security. At a cited annual staking rate of roughly 3%–5%, fully deploying the treasury would imply about 121,800 to 203,000 ETH per year in rewards; at the referenced ETH price of $2,927, that translates to roughly $356 million to $595 million in annual revenue.

Tom Lee(@fundstrat)'s #Bitmine continues moving $ETH into staking.

Over the past 2 days, #Bitmine has staked 342,560 $ETH($1B).https://t.co/P684j5YQaGhttps://t.co/pXHT9mCPUC pic.twitter.com/0Y9XBShQzI

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) December 28, 2025

Execution strategy, validator impact, and the supply-squeeze angle

The acquisition strategy is positioned as equity-funded rather than leverage-driven, which changes the risk profile even if market exposure remains substantial. The company is described as funding acquisitions primarily through equity raises and preparing to launch the institutional MAVAN validator network in Q1 2026 to internalize staking operations and custody. On-chain and network effects showed up quickly. Concentrated deposits expanded the validator entry queue while exit demand stayed smaller, reflecting a clear preference for staking over withdrawal during this window.

This approach is not only about yield. BitMine’s capital-allocation goal is also framed as a deliberate supply-squeeze strategy intended to reduce liquid, sellable ETH and potentially support longer-term valuation metrics. When large volumes move from tradable float into staking, market depth can tighten and sensitivity to large orders can rise.

Large-scale lockups can also raise concentration concerns if a single actor approaches the stated 5% target. Removing material sellable supply can alter market depth and invite scrutiny over economic concentration as treasury strategies scale. For supervised entities and treasury teams, the compliance burden becomes concrete. Governance needs to address segregated custody, incident response for validator failures, mandatory disclosure of treasury risk and material unrealized losses, and potential reporting considerations under market-abuse or systemic-risk frameworks.

The controls need to match the illiquidity profile. Treasury operations require tighter documentation, liquidity stress-testing, and distribution policies aligned with the withdrawal and queue dynamics of staked assets. On the supervisory side, the gap to evaluate is straightforward. Prudential and compliance functions must assess whether existing reporting regimes adequately capture operational risk, liquidity constraints, and market-concentration exposure created by corporate staking strategies.

BitMine’s $1 billion ETH lock-up underscores a structural shift toward productive crypto holdings while elevating liquidity, custody, and concentration risks that require tighter governance and transparent reporting.