Bitmine Immersion Technologies has sharply slowed its pace of Ethereum buying, making softer demand from the largest corporate buyer a variable for the Ethereum market.

Blockchain media outlet Cryptopolitan reported on Aug. 12 that Bitmine said in a recent filing it has secured 4.8 percent of circulating Ethereum.

Bitmine bought an additional 7,391 ETH last week. It extended its buying streak to 58 straight weeks, but the weekly purchase was the smallest this year. The pace has slowed sharply compared with earlier this year, when it bought more than 100,000 ETH per week at one point.

The trend had already been signalled. Tom Lee (톰 리), a Fundstrat co-founder who leads Bitmine, said at the Consensus event held in Miami in May that it would adjust its Ethereum buying. He said at the time, "I don't want to reach the goal of securing 5 percent of circulation too quickly."

Bitmine has recently placed more emphasis on buying back its own shares rather than Ethereum. The company bought 19.1 million shares of BMNR stock since July. It bought 3 million shares last week alone, spending $50 million to $58 million (about 70.58 billion won to 81.9 billion won).

A similar trend is appearing in bitcoin. Michael Saylor's Strategy has stopped buying bitcoin since June. The company used the entire $108.6 million (about 153.3 billion won) it secured from selling bitcoin last week to buy STRC preferred shares, and it also sold 1,638 BTC the previous week.

The two companies' purposes differ somewhat. Strategy is cited as being strongly aimed at defending its balance sheet, while Bitmine is mentioned as adjusting its pace from a relatively comfortable position.

Market attention is focused on whether Bitmine will continue buying ETH even after reaching its 5 percent target. Data analytics firm Arkham Intelligence estimates Bitmine has reached about 96 percent of its target. The scenarios are narrowed to three: continuing additional purchases beyond the target, slowing the buying pace as it is now, or stopping purchases after reaching the goal.

Among them, the market is most focused on the possibility of a halt in purchases. Arkham Intelligence analysed that if the largest corporate buyer exits on the demand side, it could weigh on short-term bullish sentiment. ETH was trading around $1,880, which is below the level at which companies touting treasury strategies entered the market in large numbers.

Bitmine has a buffer that makes a simple comparison with Strategy difficult. Bitmine is staking most of its ETH holdings through the 'MAVAN' validator network. The company put its expected annualised staking returns at $257 million (about 362.9 billion won) based on a yield of 2.63 percent. As a result, even if Bitmine stops new purchases, its ETH holdings can continue to grow through network rewards.

Bitmine's moves show that corporate treasury strategies can shift from simple accumulation to share buybacks and management of held assets. The key point in this case is that, in a structure where staking returns are maintained, stopping purchases does not immediately mean a reduction in holdings.