Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) saw the assessed value of its Ethereum holdings rise by $2.2 billion in a day, helped by a sharp price jump.

Blockchain media outlet U.Today reported on Aug. 20 (local time) that Bitmine has emerged as a key beneficiary of Ethereum's recent rise.

Bitmine holds 5,815,000 ether, according to its latest operating report. That is about 4.8 percent of total circulating supply. The portfolio was valued at $11.0 billion at the start of the week. It grew to $13.2 billion as ether jumped 20 percent to above $2,200.

Bitmine has been buying ETH every week for more than a year. About 87 percent of its holdings are staked, generating about $250 million in fixed annual income. The company is also aggressively buying back its own shares.

The overall portfolio remains in a loss zone. DropsTab said Bitmine's Ethereum portfolio has an unrealised loss of $6.09 billion, with a loss rate of 31.25 percent. Total outlays were $19.49 billion. The average purchase price was $3,357.63 per token.

At the centre of the strategy is Tom Lee (톰 리), Bitmine's chairman and a co-founder of Fundstrat. He interpreted ETH/BTC, the price ratio between Ethereum and bitcoin, breaking a long-term downtrend line and surpassing 0.02994 as a structural change. He argued that Wall Street is starting to view Ethereum as an asset with utility rather than merely a speculative asset.

Lee linked long-term demand for Ethereum to the spread of artificial intelligence and robotics. He said that as humanoid robot software rapidly converges into cloud-based "collective intelligence", Ethereum smart contracts could become the foundational operating system of that ecosystem. That is also why he assessed Ethereum as "sub-infrastructure for AI."

Lee said, "As AI and robotics develop rapidly, the importance of cryptocurrencies is also growing," and added, "Ethereum will become the most important layer 1 (L1)."

Fundstrat assessed that if bitcoin is closer to "digital gold" as an inflation hedge, Ethereum is establishing itself as "digital oil", a settlement layer that powers future AI economic infrastructure. Bitmine's large-scale accumulation and staking strategy is also seen as a move to bet on expanding utility for Ethereum beyond short-term price gains.

The key going forward is how much Bitmine can reduce its large unrealised losses if Ethereum's rise continues. Staking income and a rebound in ETH/BTC are positive, but with the current price still well below the average purchase price, the success of the strategy is expected to hinge on whether the spread of AI and robotics leads to a real increase in demand for Ethereum.

Insane ETH Move ETH’s 20% pump increased Bitmine’s (@fundstrat) ETH holdings value from $11.0B to $13.2B. That’s a $2.2B increase in portfolio value. pic.twitter.com/twqEWF3BHz