Bitmine has raised $274 million through a preferred stock sale and put a big chunk of that money into Ethereum. The firm added $136 million worth of ether following the financing, signaling a bet on the second-largest cryptocurrency. The move echoes the playbook Michael Saylor pioneered at MicroStrategy — using equity-like instruments to accumulate crypto.
How the deal works
The preferred stock sale closed this week, bringing in $274 million. Bitmine then turned around and bought $136 million in ether. That’s roughly half the haul. The rest is presumably sitting in treasury or earmarked for other purchases, though the company hasn’t detailed those plans. Preferred stock sits between debt and common equity — it pays a fixed dividend but can convert into common shares. That structure lets the firm raise cash without diluting common shareholders right away.
Why Bitmine went the Saylor route
Bitmine’s approach borrows directly from Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin-focused treasury strategy. Saylor famously used convertible bonds and stock offerings to load up MicroStrategy’s balance sheet with BTC. Bitmine is adapting that model for Ethereum. Instead of debt, they used preferred shares — but the logic is the same: raise cheap capital, buy a hard asset, let the market re-rate the stock. Whether ether can deliver the returns Bitcoin gave Saylor is another question.
What happens to the rest
With $136 million deployed and $138 million still in hand, Bitmine’s next steps are unclear. They could buy more ether, branch into staking, or hold cash as a buffer. The preferred stock sale gives them flexibility — but it also comes with a fixed dividend obligation. If ether prices slump, the math gets tighter. For now, the firm is betting that Ethereum’s long-term trajectory justifies the leverage.
No timeline has been given for additional purchases. The market will be watching Bitmine’s next disclosure.
