Tom Lee Declares Crypto the 'Wartime Store of Value' While Bitmine Adds Another $150M to Its ETH War Chest

Bitmine Immersion Technologies just keeps stacking ETH. The Ethereum treasury giant added 71,179 ETH since its last update on March 23, bringing its total holdings to 4,732,082 ETH — worth approximately $9.8 billion at current prices. The company now holds $10.7 billion in combined crypto and cash. For those keeping track at home, that's enough ETH to personally offend several central banks.

Bitmine didn't disclose the average purchase price for its latest haul, but at current prices, that batch of ETH is worth around $147.6 million. Not too shabby for a week's work. Someone at Bitmine is definitely getting a nice bonus this quarter — or perhaps a golden shovel.

Chairman Tom Lee was feeling bullish — perhaps appropriately given the geopolitical backdrop. "As the Iran war enters its 5th week, ETH and crypto outperformed the broader market with ETH outperforming equities by 1,160bp," Lee said in a statement. "This is a marked contrast to Gold (a traditional store of value), which has underperformed by more than 750 basis points. Crypto is demonstrating itself to a good wartime store of value." Gold just can't seem to catch a break these days — too busy being a relic for boomers while ETH does the heavy lifting.

Lee also pointed out that the inverse correlation between crypto (and equities) and oil has been increasing, hitting its highest level in the past year. "Until equity markets become comfortable with the future trajectory of oil prices, rising oil is a headwind for equities and crypto," he noted. And in a twist for the bears: "In a sense, the crypto winter likely ends when the upside risk to oil prices peaks." So there you have it — your portfolio's fate now depends on OPEC's group chat. Fun times.

On the staking front, Bitmine has 3,142,643 ETH locked up, generating approximately $177 million in annualized staking revenues. That's about 66% of their total ETH holdings hard at work earning yield. Essentially, Bitmine is running the world's most profitable ETH savings account and just keeps feeding it quarters.

For those keeping score, Bitmine remains the largest Ethereum treasury holder by a comfortable margin. Joe Lubin's SharpLink comes in at approximately 863,021 ETH, followed by The Ether Machine with roughly 496,