BitMine has expanded share buybacks alongside additional ether purchases, moving to return value to shareholders.

Blockchain outlet Decrypt reported on Oct. 26 that BitMine bought an additional 10,452 ether over the past week, raising total holdings to 6,051,933. Over the same period, it also bought back 2.04 million shares at an average price of $22.48 per share.

The purchases lifted cumulative share buybacks this year to 22.9 million shares, with spending rising to about $399.6 million. BitMine Chairman Tom Lee (톰 리) described it as the largest capital return programme among crypto treasury strategy companies.

The ether buying also continued. BitMine bought an additional roughly $24 million worth of ether this week. The value of its total holdings is about $14.3 billion at $2,356 per ether, and its holdings equal 4.95 percent of the total circulating supply of 122.2 million. BitMine said it has achieved 99 percent of its target, dubbed "Alchemy of 5%," to secure 5 percent of circulating ether.

Tom Lee viewed the recent weakness in cryptocurrencies as a buying opportunity rather than a warning signal. He said the recent correction coincided with broader risk-off flows in AI-related stocks. He cited this as evidence that a crypto bull market is under way, saying U.S. semiconductor stocks fell 20 percent while ether declined 13 percent from a recent peak.

BitMine's total assets stood at $15 billion as of Oct. 25. That includes 215 bitcoin, $514 million in cash and marketable securities, a $180 million stake in Beast Industries, and a $76 million stake in Eightco Holdings, in addition to ether holdings. It is also staking about 5,227,037 ether, roughly 86 percent of its ether holdings, through its MAVAN platform, with the company putting annualised staking returns at about $318 million.

BitMine's moves also coincide with other large crypto treasury strategy companies. Strategy also stopped buying bitcoin this week and spent $204.9 million on buying back its STRC preferred shares. That amounts to a simultaneous trend of large holders prioritising buybacks over new crypto purchases.

BitMine is currently the world's largest corporate holder of ether as a treasury asset and ranks second among crypto treasury strategy companies after Strategy. Against that backdrop, the next focus is when BitMine reaches its goal of securing 5 percent of the ether network, and how far it shifts funding after that from additional coin purchases toward buybacks and expanding staking returns.