Tom Lee says institutions underweight crypto as BitMine adds 27,562 ether

BitMine added 27,562 ether to its holdings last week, bringing its total position to 5.98 million tokens. Valued at approximately $16.3 billion, the company remains short of its stated goal to hold 5% of all ether in existence, a target it has pursued for 15 months.

Chairman Tom Lee argues that large investors remain underinvested in the sector and predicts a surge in institutional exposure before the end of the year. Lee's confidence stems from the company's accumulation strategy, which has seen BitMine purchase ether every week since June 30, 2025. The firm currently states it is 98% of the way toward its 5% supply target.

The path to that milestone is complicated by the fact that ether has no fixed supply limit. Because new tokens are minted continuously, the absolute number of tokens required to reach 5% of total supply increases over time. BeInCrypto noted in August that BitMine was roughly 251,000 tokens short of the line at that time. Since then, the company has acquired 136,329 ether, leaving it still about 121,000 tokens away from the moving target.

Lee's pitch to prospective investors highlights the asset's recent performance relative to traditional equities. He points out that ether has outperformed the S&P 500 by roughly 65 percentage points since the end of June. In the company's latest release, Lee stated that institutions have underweighted crypto in 2026, partly due to the early-year outperformance of AI stocks. He expects institutions to substantially increase their exposure during the final three months of 2026.

Market valuations currently reflect a discount to BitMine's holdings. The company values its crypto assets, cash, and private stakes at $17.1 billion, while its total market capitalization stood at $15.68 billion at Friday's close. This discount is common among crypto treasury firms, which frequently trade below the value of the assets they hold.

Ether traded near $2,734 at the time of reporting, marking a gain of over 6% in the previous 24 hours. Lee is scheduled to deliver a keynote address in Seoul on September 30, one day before the start of the quarter he predicts will drive increased institutional participation.