Tom Lee has said that Bitcoin may be included in the Russell 1000 index.

Ether's treasury company Bitmine Immersion Technologies has been shortlisted for inclusion in the Russell 3000 index, a move chairman Tom Lee has hinted could give the company's stock a tailwind.

FTSE Russell, a subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange Group, on Friday published the inclusion list for the first-ever Russell 3000 index, which tracks the 3,000 largest companies in the US.

Li said on XPost on Saturday that bitcoin could be included in the Russell 1000, an index that tracks the largest 1,000 US companies, with the index's minimum market capitalization threshold of $5.7 billion. Bitmine's market cap was $10.15 billion at market close on Friday.

“Many active managers only buy stocks in the Russell 1000,” says Lee, who estimates that up to 25% of the market value of a stock included in the index is held by passive index funds or exchange-traded funds.

Source: Tom Lee

Bitcoin's inclusion in the Russell 1000 puts it in the same index as major U.S. stocks, including tech giants Nvidia Corp., Microsoft and Apple, and could indirectly bring exposure to Ether holdings for traditional investors.

FTSE Russell will provide further list updates on June 5, June 12 and June 18, and the newly established indices will take effect after the US market closes on June 26.

Bitmine stock is down to 30%

Shares of Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) fell more than 30% and closed Friday at $18.88. The company announced plans to build an Ether Treasury in July 2025. On July 3, the stock rose above $135. On July 14, the company disclosed its holdings of 163,142 Ether, worth an estimated $500 million.

Bitmine stock is down more than 30% year-to-date. Source: Google Finance

In the last week, Bitmine held 5.28 million Ether, or about 4.37% of the total supply of Ethereum, with the company's final goal to capture 5% of the supply of 120.7 million tokens. To hit the target of more than 6 million Ether, Bitcoin needs an additional area of ​​756,538.

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According to CoinGecko, Ether is down more than 57% from its all-time high of $4,946. BitMine has an estimated paper loss of $7.3 billion due to the price drop.

However, Lee has previously argued that Ether's downward slide could present another buying opportunity, and said last Monday that he held a majority stake as the company earned $289 million in annual earnings per share.

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