BitMine chairman Tom Lee expects Ethereum to outperform Bitcoin this cycle, citing an 80% correlation between BitMine's stock and ETH from a Fundstrat comparison of 17 large-cap stocks. Tokenization and AI-agent activity underpin his thesis.
Fundstrat found that BitMine Immersion Technologies shows an 80% correlation with Ethereum, the highest reading among 17 large-cap stocks the firm compared against Bitcoin and Ether. Coinbase ranked second for Ethereum exposure at 74%. Among Bitcoin-linked stocks, Strategy led at 78%, followed by Coinbase at 74%.
Lee, BitMine's chairman, said he expects Ethereum to outperform Bitcoin during the current cycle because tokenization and AI applications could drive demand for the network. He did not disclose the period Fundstrat used to calculate the correlations, and the figures describe the relationship in Fundstrat's dataset rather than a fixed link between each stock and its underlying asset.
BitMine's treasury keeps growing
BitMine held 5,815,164 ETH, 210 Bitcoin, and $78 million in cash and marketable securities as of Aug. 16. That position equals 4.8% of Ethereum's stated supply of 120.7 million tokens. Using an ETH price of $1,893, the company valued its combined holdings at $11.4 billion. BMNR closed at about $22.72 on Aug. 21, up roughly 5.3%, as Coinbase rose about 7.5% and Strategy added about 5.9%.
Of BitMine's Ether, 5,067,309 tokens were staked as of Aug. 16, about 87% of its holdings. Based on a seven-day annualized staking yield of 2.61%, the company projected around $250 million in annual staking revenue, a figure it said could reach $287 million once the rest of its ETH is staked.
Tokenization and AI drive the outperformance case
Lee has pointed to tokenization as a main reason Ethereum could gain on Bitcoin. In an Aug. 17 update, he said the ETH/BTC ratio rose to 0.02994, moving above a long-running downward trend after testing resistance near 0.0286 in July.
RWA.xyz data cited in the report tracked 2,267 real-world assets on Ethereum and $13.99 billion in 30-day RWA transfer volume as of Aug. 21, up 20.45%, across platforms including Ondo, Securitize, Circle, Tether, and Sky.
Ether ETFs post a record month
US spot Ethereum ETFs attracted $365 million in net inflows during July, compared with $205 million for spot Bitcoin funds — the strongest month on record for Ethereum funds and the first time their inflows exceeded Bitcoin's by more than two to one. Ethereum ETF inflows extended into August, adding $53.75 million on Aug. 4, followed by $202 million over the next three trading days.
Source: crypto.news
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