Bitmine adds 10,452 ether and sits at 4.95% of supply, within reach of the 5% line where Tom Lee said it would stop buying

Bitmine, the largest corporate holder of ether, added 10,452 ether over the past week and now holds 6,051,933, according to a company statement reported by The Block on Monday. That is 4.95% of the 122.2 million ether in circulation, and about $14.3 billion at $2,356 per ether on October 25.

The number matters because of a line Tom Lee, the company's chairman, drew on October 7: Bitmine would stop buying once it owned 5% of supply. Five percent of 122.2 million is about 6.11 million, which leaves roughly 58,000 ether. The company has not said what it will do when it gets there.

Bitmine said 5,227,037 ether, about 86% of its holdings, is staked, and projected annualised staking revenue of $318 million. It also holds 215 bitcoin, a $180 million stake in Beast Industries, a $76 million investment in Eightco Holdings and $514 million in cash and marketable securities. Over the past week it bought back 2.04 million of its own shares at an average of $22.48.

Lee said the crypto bull market is underway, pointing to ether's 13% pullback from its recent peak, The Block reported.