Bitcoin miner-turned-Ethereum treasury firm BitMine Immersion Technologies staked 86,400 ETH, worth roughly $268 million, on January 10, bringing its total staked holdings to 1.08 million ETH, valued at approximately $3.36 billion.
This move expands the aggressive staking strategy initiated by the world’s largest corporate Ether treasury holder in December 2025, when it first deposited 74,880 ETH to support the Ethereum blockchain. BitMine currently holds 4.14 million ETH ($13.1 billion), representing 3.43% of Ethereum’s circulating supply, and is the second-largest digital asset treasury (DAT) after Michael Saylor’s Strategy, which holds 673,783 BTC, worth $61.95 billion.
BitMine Stakes 86,400 ETH, Expects to Generate $104 Million Annually in Staking Rewards
The scale of BitMine’s staking activity reflects a long-term strategic positioning rather than opportunistic trading. Each stake deposit moves ETH from active spot circulation and locks it on the mainnet, reducing sell-side liquidity. The company has shifted from passive accumulation to active yield generation, with roughly one-quarter of its holdings now staked to support the Ethereum blockchain and earn rewards.
Staking refers to the process of locking up Ether to become a validator on the Ethereum blockchain, contributing to its network security and operation while earning rewards in return. The mechanism is part of Ethereum’s proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus, which replaced the older proof-of-work (PoW) system during the “Merge” hard fork in September 2022. Validators are responsible for proposing new blocks, verifying transactions, attesting to the validity of proposed blocks, and helping maintain Ethereum’s integrity and consensus.
According to data sourced by Arkham Intelligence, the company made several small deposits – 23.04K ETH, 21.12K ETH, 19.2K ETH, and 23.04K ETH – on Ethereum’s BatchDeposit smart contract on Sunday, January 11, to make up the final number of 86,400 ETH. This transfer follows BitMine’s previous stake of 82,560 ETH ($257 million), which came just five days ago, and was also carried out in a similar fashion.
At current staking yields near 3.12% annually, the 1.08 million staked ETH could generate approximately 33,700 ETH ($104.9 million) annually for the company.
BitMine to Launch ‘Made-in-America Validator Network’ to Stake 1.08M ETH in Q1 2026
However, the vigorous move has pushed the Ethereum validator admission queue to 1.81 million ETH, which represents the number of coins waiting to be delegated. As per Ethereum block explorer data, new validators must wait an estimated 31 days and 13 hours to become active on the network. Meanwhile, exit activity remains comparatively low, with a little over 192,000 ETH available for withdrawal.
This growing validator backlog drove BitMine to pursue its own staking infrastructure. In November 2025, the company announced the Made-in-America Validator Network (MAVAN), which is expected to stake its holdings starting Q1 2026. The Ethereum treasury firm approached three institutional-grade crypto-staking service providers for an initial trial, deploying a small amount of ETH to assess the system’s performance, security, and operational efficiency.
BitMine has Spent Over $1 Billion Staking ETH so far in 2026
BitMine began its staking efforts on December 26 with a $219 million ETH deposit. The scale was expanded rapidly, with the company increasing its stake to 342,560 ETH, worth approximately $1 billion, just two days later. By the first week of January 2026, total staked assets reached 659,219 coins valued at $2.1 billion, representing an increase of 250,592 ETH in a single week. An additional $1.46 billion in ETH was staked on January 6.
Two days later, on January 8, BitMine staked approximately 99,800 ETH worth roughly $344.4 million, bringing its total staked holdings to 908,192 ETH valued at nearly $3 billion. The January 10 deposit of 86,400 ETH has pushed the total past 1.08 million coins. Data shows that the company has deployed over a billion dollars into staking Ether within the first 10 days of the new year.
On-chain data indicate that about 35.5 million ETH, or about 29% of the total supply, are currently staked on the mainnet.
According to data from its official treasury dashboard, BitMine holds approximately 4.14 million ETH, valued at around $13.1 billion. This number represents about 3.43% of Ethereum’s circulating supply. Tom Lee, the company’s chairman, noted that it is the largest “fresh money” buyer of ETH globally, and aims to acquire 5% of the entire Ether supply.
At the time of writing, Ether (ETH) is trading at $3,108 – up 0.21% in 24 hours. BitMine Immersion Technologies (NYSE: BMNR) closed Friday’s trading session at $30.6, down 0.79% on that day.
