Bitmine doubles down with $157M ETH buy as Tom Lee calls oil the key headwind!

Ethereum treasury firm Bitmine Immersion (BMNR) purchased 71,672 ETH last week — worth roughly $157 million at current prices — marking a sharp acceleration from the previous week's 26,000-token haul. The move came despite Chairman Tom Lee having recently signaled the company would slow its accumulation pace.

Lee framed the reversal around macro conditions, pointing to crude oil as the dominant force suppressing ETH prices. "ETH inverse correlation to oil is the highest ever," he wrote on X, noting that rising crude over the past six weeks had tracked almost perfectly with falling ether. His thesis: "Oil reversing = ETH prices recovering." The pullback below $2,200 was described as an "attractive opportunity."

The purchase lifts Bitmine's total ETH holdings to approximately 5.28 million tokens — around 4.37% of Ethereum's circulating supply. The firm's combined crypto and cash…