BitMine Stakes $259M More ETH Offered As Validator Queues 1M Ether
BitMine Immersion Technologies has added another 82,560 Ether worth $259 million to its Ethereum staking system, adding to growing institutional demand for the product, intensifying congestion in the network's validator entry queue.
According to data from Arkham, Ethereum (ETH) Treasury has sent several large deposits to Ethereum's BatchDeposit contract in the past few hours. With the new share, BitMine's total stake in ETH rose to 544,064 Ether, worth $1.62 billion at current prices, according to onchain analyst Lookonchain.
BitMine first began storing ETH on December 26, transferring approximately $219 million worth of ETH through contracts linked to shares on the Ethereum network.
In November, BitMine announced plans to launch Ether in the first quarter of 2026 through an internal infrastructure known as the Med-in-America Validation Network (MAVAN). The company said it has selected three institutional staking providers for an initial pilot, staking a limited amount of ETH to evaluate performance, security and operational reliability before expanding the program.
Related: Tom Lee highlights the role of the Ethereum token as he outlines bullish views
The Ether validator entry queue is close to 1 million ETH
Meanwhile, BitMine's intense staking push has helped push Ethereum's validator entry queue to 977,000 ETH, according to Blockchain Explorer's Ethereum Validator Queue, with a roughly 17-day waiting period for new validators to become active.
On the other hand, withdrawal activity is relatively easy, with just over 113,000 ETH waiting to withdraw.
Data from the Ethereum network shows that more than 35.5 million ETH, or approximately 29% of the total supply, is currently held by the bounty, with an annual share rate of 2.54%.
The head of DiFi's Layer 1 blockchain, Monad, revealed on XPost last week that when the entry and exit queue was last flipped in June, Ether “doubled in value after a while” and said “2026 will be a movie.”
Related: BitMine Locks Up $1B in Ether as Big Corporations Have Stakes to Produce ETH
Tom Lee pushes a big stock expansion on BitMine
Cointelegraph reports that BitMine Chairman Tom Lee is urging shareholders to approve a significant increase in the company's authorized share count to 50 billion.
Lee said the company's share price closely tracks ETH and that Ether would reach $250,000 if Bitcoin rose to $1 million, a level he believes would push BitMine shares to a price he believes would be worth it to most retail investors.
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