- The Ethereum Foundation sold 5,000 ETH to BitMine Immersion Technologies for approximately $10.2 million to fund its core operations.
- BitMine is the largest Ethereum treasury firm, holding over 4.5 million ETH valued near $9.4 billion, but is currently sitting on a massive paper loss.
- ethereum’s price has fallen 58% from its August 2025 peak, and prediction markets indicate a 63% bearish short-term outlook for the asset.
The Ethereum Foundation announced a major treasury sale on March 14, 2026, sending 5,000 ETH to Tom Lee’s publicly traded firm, BitMine Immersion Technologies. According to an X post, the transaction was conducted at an average price of $2,042.96 per coin, netting just over $10.2 million. “This sale funds the [Ethereum Foundation’s] core operations & activities, including protocol R&D, ecosystem development, community grant funding and more,” the Foundation stated.
This marks the second time the Foundation has sold directly to an Ethereum treasury firm, following a 10,000 ETH sale to Sharplink in July 2025. Consequently, BitMine solidified its position as the largest holder, with 4,534,563 ETH worth around $9.41 billion as of last week. However, the broader market context paints a starkly different picture for these corporate holdings.
Ethereum’s price has plummeted 58% since its peak of $4,946 last August, dragging down the value of treasury investments accumulated near the top. Consequently, BitMine faces an unrealized paper loss estimated at roughly $7.5 billion based on its average purchase price. Despite this immense loss on paper, the firm and its chairman remain publicly optimistic about Ethereum’s long-term future.
“We continue to believe that crypto prices are in the late/final stages of the ‘mini-crypto winter,'” said Tom Lee last Monday. Meanwhile, the asset has shown recent resilience, gaining 5% over the past week and 9% over the last month according to data from CoinGecko. Even with these modest gains, users on the prediction market platform Myriad are betting against a short-term recovery, penciling in a 63% chance that ETH’s price will next fall to $1,500 rather than rise to $3,000.
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