CoinDesk
Tom Lee, chairman of Bitmine Immersion Technologies, is pushing back on the market anxiety surrounding Strategy's recent bitcoin sale, calling it textbook bottom behavior rather than a structural warning sign. Strategy's Executive Chairman Michael Saylor sold 32 BTC at an average price of $77,135, generating roughly $2.5 million to fund preferred stock dividend payments — the firm's first bitcoin sale in nearly four years.
Why it matters
The disposal represented just 0.004% of Strategy's 843,700+ BTC reserves, and Wall Street analysts have broadly agreed the transaction is economically immaterial to the core accumulation thesis. Lee's framing matters because it recontextualizes not just the Saylor sale but the broader 11-day, $3.4 billion ETF outflow streak — the longest since U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs launched in January 2024. Lee argues these capital exits are a classic trailing indicator of a cycle reset: "This is what you expected at the bottom. People sell at the bottom, right?"
Market impact
Despite the short-term negative price pressure, Bitmine's macro playbook is unchanged. The firm accelerated its ETH accumulation last week, purchasing 111,942 ETH worth approximately $237 million — its largest buy since December — lifting total holdings to nearly 5.4 million ETH, roughly 4.47% of ether's circulating supply. Lee confirmed the ETH accumulation strategy remains on track, signaling that at least one major institutional player is treating current conditions as an entry opportunity rather than an exit signal.
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