Thiel’s Ethereum Gambit: A Billionaire’s Bet on the Future

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Amidst the tumultuous sea of financial speculation and the ever-shifting sands of technological innovation, a glimmer of hope—or perhaps a beacon of folly—has emerged in the form of a Schedule 13G filing. The US Securities and Exchange Commission, in its infinite wisdom, has seen fit to inform the world that entities under the watchful eye of Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund have, with a quiet determination, amassed a staggering 5,094,000 common shares of BitMine Immersion Technologies (NYSE American: BMNR), an Ethereum treasury company. This sum, equal to 9.1 percent of the company’s outstanding stock as of July 8, marks the first time the billionaire venture capitalist has taken a material position in a publicly listed “Ethereum-treasury” play. 🤑

The filing, a document as dry as the Sahara yet as significant as the discovery of a new continent, lists the stake across six Delaware vehicles, with Thiel himself named as the ultimate manager, wielding shared voting and dispositive power. Yet, in a move that might be seen as either a sign of humility or a cunning strategy, the filing checks the passive-investor box, signaling no immediate intent to seek control of the Las Vegas-based firm. 🏛️

News of this disclosure, like a bolt of lightning in a calm sky, sent BitMine shares soaring more than 12 percent to $44.97 in post-market trading, adding roughly $280 million to a market capitalization that has already swollen like a balloon. The after-hours move extends a wild rally that saw the stock surge 3,000 percent in the week to July 3, following BitMine’s revelation of a $250 million private placement earmarked entirely for Ethereum purchases and the installation of Fundstrat co-founder Thomas “Tom” Lee as board chairman. 🚀

BitMine’s pace of accumulation has been even faster than its share-price ascent. In a press release dated July 14, the company announced it now holds 163,142 ETH—roughly $500 million at the time—barely three business days after closing the initial raise. “Since closing on the $250 million private placement, we have surpassed $500 million in Ethereum holdings, which validates our mission to increase our stake in the Ethereum network,” Lee declared, his voice a mix of triumph and prophecy. Chief executive Jonathan Bates added, with a touch of humor, “Wall Street is getting ‘ETH-pilled.’” 🌱

Lee, long known for his Bitcoin price targets, is positioning BitMine as the Ethereum analogue to MicroStrategy: a corporate balance sheet vehicle designed to scale into a strategic, yield-bearing crypto reserve. “Among Bitcoin treasury companies, we have witnessed the reflexive benefit of acquiring large holdings… Similarly, ETH treasuries which accumulate 5 percent of ETH supply can benefit from a comparable ‘Wall Street put,’” he argued, invoking the idea that massive on-balance-sheet crypto positions can create a floor under the equity itself. 📈

Thiel’s entrance adds a marquee validation to this thesis. The 13G shows the purchase price was not disclosed, but the 5.1 million-share block underscores the scale of the bet. Because the filing came under Rule 13d-1(c), Thiel is signaling a passive stance—for now. Yet, his long-standing interest in Ethereum is well-documented: the Thiel Foundation’s 2014 fellowship famously bankrolled Vitalik Buterin’s decision to drop out of university to build the protocol. 🎓

The Ethereum community greeted the news with typical bombast. “ETH is going so much higher than you can even imagine,” wrote podcaster and on-chain analyst @sassal0x. Bankless co-founder Ryan Sean Adams confessed he “had not been bullish enough,” while macro trader Mortensen Bach urged followers to keep BitMine on their watchlists: “Things are starting to be interesting – This one should be on top of your watchlist. The question is, do you buy in now in anticipation of ETH treasury doubling? What I mean is, if they increase ETH holding massively, it can grow into a much better valuation.” 🤔

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2025-07-16 17:30