BitMine Buys 5,000 ETH from Ethereum Foundation in $10.2M OTC Deal
The Ethereum Foundation has completed an over-the-counter (OTC) sale of 5,000 Ether to BitMine Immersion Technologies.
In Saturday's post, X said the foundation will use proceeds from the sale to support core initiatives including protocol research, ecosystem development and community outreach programs. The onchain transfer starts with a secure multi-signature wallet from the Ethereum Foundation.
BitMine, a publicly traded company on the NYSE American under BMNR, has become one of the largest corporate owners of Ether (ETH). The firm, led by Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee, holds more than 4.5 million ETH worth an estimated $9.3 billion, according to industry treasury regulators.
Since mid-2025, the company has continuously stored Ether, following a strategy similar to the Bitcoin (BTC) storage model.
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EF conducts second corporate ETH OTC sale
The transaction marks the second time the Ethereum Foundation has sold ETH directly to a corporate treasury buyer via an OTC deal. In July 2025, the firm sold 10,000 ETH to SharpLink Gaming for an average price of $2,572.37, a transaction worth around $25.7 million.
These periodic sales are part of the Ethereum Foundation Treasury Management Framework introduced in June 2025. Pursuant to that policy, the organization periodically changes its holdings of ETH to maintain fiat-based operating reserves. The framework maintains a multi-year operating runway and targets annual spending equal to 15 percent of Treasury holdings.
The announcement comes shortly after the foundation began stockpiling a portion of its treasury, around 70,000 ETH, which it plans to deploy to validators using open source infrastructure.
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EF has published an order defining its role
This week, the Ethereum Foundation released a new mandate outlining its role in governing the Ethereum ecosystem with an emphasis on decentralization and user sovereignty over assets and data. The document states that Ethereum should be censorship-resistant, open-source and privacy-preserving.
The foundation says it will gradually reduce its direct impact on the network and focus on major protocol improvements, long-term research, cybersecurity and developer tools.
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