Tom Lee-Led BitMine Reportedly Scoops Up $48.89 Million Of Ethereum During Crypto’s ‘AI Downstream’ Story

BitMine Immersion Technologies Inc (BMNR) continues to bet big on Ethereum (ETH), with the Tom Lee-led firm reportedly purchasing 20,000 ETH on Tuesday and moving closer to its goal of owning 5% of all Ether as demand for AI stocks cools within the market.On-chain tracker Lookonchain reported in a post on X that the firm “purchased another 20,000 $ETH from Kraken,” worth around $48.89. However, BitMine has yet to verify the transaction. Including the purchase, the company's last disclosed position would be around 5.87 million ETH, still below the 5% mark.Lee wrote on X the same day that crypto was in “an ‘AI downstream’ story,” and that was the reason why he saw crypto strengthening this year.Still Short Of Its TargetBitMine announced on Monday that it owned 5.85 million ETH, worth $2,440 a token, or 4.8% of the circulating supply of Ethereum’s 120.7 million. Lee would not have to sell any Ethereum due to its staking rewards, which bring about $330 million a year in revenue. BMNR is about 187,000 ETH short of its 5% target.Lee said that the  was long overdue given strengthening crypto fundamentals, citing Wall Street tokenization, agentic AI, easing financial conditions and signs of White House support as tailwinds. edged 0.7% lower in pre-market hours, amid broader market weakness and Ethereum’s price stagnation. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around BMNR was in the ‘extremely bullish’ zone, while chatter around it stayed at ‘extremely high’ levels over the past day.The stock has nearly doubled from its June 30 intraday low of $12.80.When Will An Altcoin Season Come?Altcoin market capitalization jumped 23% last week, its biggest weekly move in months, rebounding off long-term support and breaking above a descending trendline. Market analyst Ash Crypto said that Bitcoin’s (BTC) dominance had remained above 60%, which has favored Bitcoin and large-cap coins. But for a genuine altcoin season to kickstart, the dominance of the apex cryptocurrency has to fall below 58%.Ethereum’s price was down 0.5% during the past 24 hours. On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment around ETH moved to ‘bullish’ from ‘extremely bullish’ zones, while chatter around it stayed at ‘high’ levels over the past day.Ethereum has fallen over 17% so far this year.