BitMine Files $300M Preferred Stock Offering Amid $9B ETH Paper Loss

BitMine tests market appetite for dividend-style financing as ETH exposure looms large BitMine Immersion Technologies has filed to raise $300 million by selling preferred stock, a move that spotlights how crypto treasury firms are turning to dividend-paying securities to fund aggressive digital-asset strategies. The company told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission it will offer 3 million shares of Series A Perpetual Preferred Stock at a stated value of $100 per share. The new issue carries a 9.5% annual dividend, slated to be paid weekly in cash subject to board approval, and would trade on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker BMNP if the listing is approved. BitMine did not specify how it will deploy the proceeds. This preferred-equity approach mirrors financing steps taken by other crypto treasuries — most notably Strategy (the firm formerly known as MicroStrategy) — which have issued multiple classes of preferred stock to access capital beyond common-equity sales and traditional debt. Firms such as Strive and Metaplanet have also used dividend-bearing preferred shares as crypto prices remain pressured. What makes BitMine’s offering especially consequential is its heavy bet on Ethereum. Run by Tom Lee, co-founder of Fundstrat, BitMine has become one of the sector’s most aggressive ETH buyers. The company’s disclosures show it has amassed more than 5.3 million ETH (about $10 billion at the filing’s valuation), representing roughly 4.5% of Ethereum’s circulating supply. A subsequent purchase of 26,497 ETH raised its holdings to roughly 5.42 million tokens (5,416,901 ETH reported), bringing BitMine closer to its stated target of controlling 5% of supply. Those positions, however, carry steep unrealized losses: the filing estimates about a $9 billion paper loss after ETH tumbled from roughly $5,000 to below $1,800 in October. That mismatch between on-chain accumulation and market prices ties the success of BitMine’s capital raise directly to investor confidence in its Ethereum treasury model. The preferred shares include redemption mechanics that could affect returns: BitMine can redeem shares at premiums that step down from 10% to 0% depending on timing. Investors are also granted repurchase rights in the event of certain corporate changes, per the filing. As background, BitMine reported total crypto, cash and “moonshots” holdings of $11.6 billion as of May 31 — including 5,416,901 ETH, 203 BTC, $446 million in cash, a $180 million stake in Beast Industries and a $93 million holding in Eightco. The timing of BitMine’s filing comes as Strategy’s preferred-equity model faces fresh scrutiny; one of Strategy’s preferred issues, STRC, traded about 5% below its $100 par value on Wednesday. BitMine’s preferred-stock bid will therefore be watched closely: it’s both a funding experiment for an ETH-heavy treasury and a bellwether for investor appetite for dividend-style crypto financing while major token positions remain deeply underwater.