BitMine Immersion Technologies bought an additional 28,086 ether (ETH), securing 4.9 percent of total Ethereum supply. Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee (톰 리) forecast that Ethereum could outperform Bitcoin over the next several years, driven by the spread of tokenisation and agentic artificial intelligence (AI).

On Sept. 8, local time, foreign media including blockchain outlet Cryptopolitan reported that Lee, chairman of BitMine's board, viewed Ethereum as institutional finance infrastructure rather than a simple trading asset. He cited asset tokenisation, in which U.S. Treasuries, stocks and real estate move onto blockchains, as a key driver of Ethereum's growth.

The Ethereum network currently hosts more than $12 billion worth of tokenised U.S. Treasury products. Lee said this showed Ethereum was establishing itself as financial infrastructure handling payments and collateral, beyond being a speculative asset.

He also pointed to agentic AI as a growth driver. He said autonomous AI systems will need to move funds and settle transactions on their own, and that Ethereum smart contracts can perform these functions and the network can store transaction records.

Lee said Ethereum was in a position similar to the U.S. dollar because it has built an ecosystem that many developers, applications and liquidity depend on. He forecast that Ethereum could attain the same status as the U.S. dollar within the next 5 years.

BitMine's ether holdings also rose to 5.93 million ETH. As of Sept. 7, BitMine held 5,929,198 ETH, worth about $14.8 billion when applying $2,495 per token. That equals 4.9 percent of total Ethereum supply of 122 million ETH. BitMine said it has achieved 97 percent of its goal to hold 5 percent of Ethereum.

The latest purchase totalled 28,086 ETH, smaller than the previous week's 53,501 ETH. BitMine said it has bought ether every week since starting its Ethereum treasury strategy on June 30, 2025.

Of its total ether holdings, 5,067,309 ETH, about 85 percent, is staked through BitMine's MAVAN platform and staking partners. BitMine projected annual staking income of $330 million based on an annualised yield of 2.61 percent as of Sept. 7.

Other assets held besides ether include 211 bitcoin, a $180 million stake in Beast Industries, a $91 million stake in Aethco Holdings, and $593 million in cash and marketable securities. Including these, BitMine's crypto assets, cash and other investment assets total $15.7 billion.

The market is focused on whether Ethereum can sustain outperformance against Bitcoin. Lee noted the ETH/BTC ratio rebounded to 0.02994 but remained well below about 0.08 recorded in 2021. He forecast that if Bitcoin rises to $150,000 and the ETH/BTC ratio climbs to 0.04, Ethereum could reach $6,000.

Lee said that through Sept. 4, based on the third quarter, Ethereum delivered returns 5,430 basis points above the S&P 500, and he listed ETH, Bitcoin (BTC) and Solana (SOL) as the three best-performing assets since June 30. Tom DeMark (톰 드마크), founder of DeMark Analytics and a BitMine adviser, also said Ethereum moved sideways without falling throughout August and suggested the possibility of a sharp rise in the coming weeks.

Still, actual market prices differed from the optimism. Ethereum traded at $2,471.92 on Sept. 8, down 1.39 percent, and BitMine shares closed at $24.97 on Sept. 5, down 5.6 percent.