Still buying

However, a few remaining companies continue to buy. Among them is Bitmine (BMNR), Tom Lee’s Ethereum treasury company.

The company purchased roughly $53 million worth of ETH last week and accumulated over 338,000 tokens through May, worth roughly $665 million at current prices. It holds more than 5.4 million ETH, making it the largest corporate holder of the token.

However, Tom Lee said the firm plans to slow its accumulation pace as it approaches its goal of owning 5% of the ETH supply.

Another Ethereum-centric Bit Digital (BTBT) returned to the market in May, buying $20 million worth of ETH. That was the company’s first purchase since October.

Some bitcoin-focused firms are still buying.

Strive (ASST) disclosed acquiring roughly 1,944 BTC in May, spread across multiple purchases, at a cost of about $150 million. Japan’s Metaplanet also reported a purchase in early April, when it acquired 5,075 BTC.

Hyperliquid Strategies (PURR), the treasury firm focused on buying HYPE, the native token of red-hot Hyperliquid blockchain-based exchange and its ecosystem, said it spent $216 million to buy 7.3 million tokens between early December and the end of April. Given HYPE’s surge to record highs, the return on that investment has more than doubled since then.

Despite last week’s sale, Strategy remained one of the largest sources of bitcoin demand through May, purchasing more than 25,000 BTC for over $2 billion.

The sellers

On the other hand, several firms have been reducing crypto holdings recently.

Nakamoto Holdings (NAKA), the bitcoin treasury company led by David Bailey, sold 284 BTC in March, about 5% of its holdings. Empery Digital sold 370 BTC in April to repay a term loan. Genius Group (GNS) said in April it liquidated its remaining 84 BTC to pay down $8.5 million of debt.

Meanwhile, others have abandoned the treasury model entirely.

Forum Markets, formerly known as ETHZilla, shifted its focus to tokenization earlier this year after selling roughly $114 million worth of ether.

VivoPower, which had planned to build an XRP-focused treasury, pivoted to data center and AI infrastructure in February, divesting its Ripple-related investments and XRP holdings.

Read more: Digital asset treasuries must now earn their keep

More For You

Tom Lee, chairman of Bitmine and cofounder of Fundstrat, speaking at Consensus 2026 in Miami (CoinDesk)

The Ethereum treasury firm cut weekly purchases by more than 75% after the previous week’s 112,000 ETH buying spree.

What to know:

  • Bitmine purchased 26,497 ETH last week, worth about $53 million at current prices.
  • The purchase pace slowed sharply from the prior week’s 120,000 ETH acquisition.
  • The firm now holds 5.42 million ETH, or 4.49% of Ethereum’s circulating supply.

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