Peter Thiel Bets Big on Ethereum, Buys Stake in Treasury Firm Chaired by Fundstrat’s Tom Lee

Peter Thiel and his Founders Fund have acquired a 9.1% stake in BitMine Immersion Technologies, according to a Schedule 13G filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday.

The disclosure follows an announcement at the end of June that Founders Fund had invested in BitMine. The filing shows the Thiel-linked group acquired 5,094,000 shares across multiple entities.

Other participants in the raise in June included Pantera Capital, Galaxy Digital, and Kraken. BitMine also appointed Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee as Chairman of the Board. 

The private placement involved selling over 55 million shares at $4.50 each, with proceeds earmarked for expanding the company’s Ethereum reserves.

BitMine is a crypto mining and treasury firm. Since June, it has been led by Lee, also the CIO of Fundstrat.

BitMine’s stock has seen extreme volatility since the launch of its Ethereum treasury strategy, with closing prices ranging from $4.26 to $135. 

On Monday, its stock (BMNR) surged to $59, up 45% from Friday’s closing price of $40.62. But by closing, it had fallen to $41.02, up less than 1% on the day. 

Interest in Ethereum treasuries has risen over the past few weeks, which, until recently, had lagged behind Bitcoin in corporate adoption. Earlier this month, SharpLink Gaming announced it had acquired $225 million in the digital asset, adding to what it claims are industry-leading reserves.

While Bitcoin treasuries remain far more common and widespread, Ryan Chow, CEO and co-founder of BTCFi protocol and on-chain Bitcoin reserve Solv Protocol, told Decrypt that Ethereum’s complexity makes it appealing but also serves as an obstacle. 

“It can be seen as ‘digital oil,’ a general-purpose asset at the centre of real on-chain finance, in staking, gas, collateral, and settlement. Concepts like these are harder to underwrite than a simple ‘store of value’ pitch,” he said.

“That said, Ethereum’s upside is significant in many ways. It’s the asset of participation and preservation, and that’s what savvy corporate treasuries are beginning to internalise.”

Still, he believes Ethereum is repositioning itself to scale meaningfully into the institutional backbone of the on-chain world.

“When the next wave of adoption hits, digital assets used to do things, not just hold things, will matter far more than they do today,” he said. 

Both the recently announced treasuries have previous ties to Ethereum. Joe Lubin, who chairs SharpLink’s board, is an Ethereum co-founder. 

In 2014, the Thiel Foundation awarded Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s co-founder, a $100,000 grant, enabling him to develop the project full-time after dropping out of university.