BitMine Officially Too Big for the Small Pond, Uplists to NYSE with $4B Buyback War Chest

BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) officially graduated to the big leagues Thursday, completing its move from the NYSE American to the New York Stock Exchange. Shares closed out their final day on the smaller exchange at $21.75, and have ticked up nearly 1% on their new trading venue. Welcome to the grown-ups table, kid.

"Today, BitMine achieved a major milestone by being uplisted to the 'Big Board' NYSE," said BitMine Chairman Tom Lee. "The NYSE is the envy of capital markets around the world, and BitMine is proud to be the newest company traded on this exchange." Nothing says "we made it" like seeing your ticker scroll past Goldman Sachs on the NASDAQ tower.

Also accompanying the NYSE debut: an expanded share buyback program, bumped from $1 billion to a cool $4 billion. Because when you're sitting on a $10+ billion ETH stash, why not throw some buybacks into the mix? It's like having a yacht and deciding to buy a second one just for spare parts.

"BitMine's expanded $4 billion buyback reflects our commitment to shareholders," Lee explained. "There may be a time in the future when BitMine shares are trading below intrinsic value, and the Company wants to be in a position to accretively retire common shares." Very forward thinking. We'll circle back on this in Q3.

Notably, BitMine hasn't actually repurchased any shares yet. Decrypt reached out for comment but did not immediately receive a response. The buyback program is basically a very expensive placeholder. Like buying a gym membership and just... keeping the receipt.

For context, other Ethereum treasury firms like Sharplink (SBET) repurchase their own shares when trading below mNAV of 1, considering it more shareholder-friendly than buying ETH at a premium. BitMine, however, has continued its relentless ETH accumulation, dropping $152 million on 71,252 ETH just last week. Meanwhile, retail investors are staring at their screens wondering why the company loves ETH more than its own stock. Classic.

The firm's total ETH holdings now sit at over 4.8 million tokens, worth approximately $10.3 billion at current prices. That's roughly 3.98% of the entire circulating ETH supply, in case you were wondering who actually holds all this stuff. Vitalik better watch out—BitMine might accidental-FTX this thing and become the largest single ETH holder on the planet.

BitMine also maintains around $14 million in BTC and $864 million in cash, bringing total holdings to approximately $11.4 billion. So essentially, BitMine is a leveraged ETH ETF with extra steps.

Here's the kicker: despite trading below mNAV of 1, BitMine continues buying ETH rather than its own discounted shares. The firm's market cap hovers around $9.81 billion while its ETH holdings alone are valued at over $10.6 billion. It's like watching someone ignore a 50% off sale on their favorite whiskey to go buy a new bottle at full price. Degen behavior, but make it corporate.

BMNR has dropped around 63% over the past six months, mirroring Ethereum's 55% decline from its August all-time high of $4,946. But according to Lee, ETH's performance hasn't been all bad. "The war has placed downward pressure on global markets, so it is impressive to see ETH as one of the few to rise on an absolute basis," Lee noted. Silver linings, folks. When everything's red, being less red is a win.