Ether hits a fresh high above $4,400 after BitMine announcement

The price of Ethereum set a local high above $4,400. Gains accelerated after mining company BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) announced raising an additional $20bn to purchase the asset.

The firm filed a prospectus with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to expand its at-the-market equity programme. Total capacity rose to $24.5bn, including $2bn under the initial agreement, $2.5bn under the previous supplement and $20bn under the new one.

Matthew Sigel, head of digital-asset research at VanEck, noted that this is a fivefold increase in issuance capacity.

BitMine ($BMNR) just filed to expand its at-the-market equity program by $20B, a 5x increase in issuance capacity, to fund more ETH purchases.

▶️ Prior authorized: $4.5B
▶️ New supplement: +$20B
▶️ Total capacity: $24.5B pic.twitter.com/DdFMiwesBk

— matthew sigel, recovering CFA (@matthew_sigel) August 12, 2025

On the news, BMNR shares rose 3.8% in premarket trading. They had added 14.7% the day before.

Ethereum has risen 5.4% over the past 24 hours; the asset trades around $4,416.

BitMine was the first public company to accumulate more than 1m ETH. It now holds over 1.2m ETH worth about $5bn. The firm’s strategy is to accumulate and stake Ethereum to generate income. The ultimate goal is to acquire 5% of the total ether supply.

Proceeds from the share sale may also be directed to buying bitcoin and expanding mining operations.

BitMine’s chairman and Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee said Ethereum could repeat bitcoin’s 2017 scenario. He believes the price could reach $30,000. 

He said potential drivers include regulatory approval of stablecoins, the SEC’s readiness to move finance onto the blockchain, and Ethereum-based projects from JPMorgan and Robinhood.

Analyst MikybullCrypto, amid these developments, wrote:

“Honestly, altseason is officially confirmed.”

HONESTLY, ALTSEASON IS OFFICIALLY CONFIRMED pic.twitter.com/VlTTiB6uMB

— Mikybull 🐂Crypto (@MikybullCrypto) August 12, 2025

BitMine leads among corporate holders of Ethereum. It is followed by SharpLink with 598,800 ETH ($2.6bn) and The Ether Machine with 345,400 ETH ($1.5bn).

Whales awaken

An unknown whale bought 312,052 ETH worth $1.34bn over eight days, according to Lookonchain. Ten new wallets were used for the purchases.

What a crazy accumulation!

This mysterious entity created 10 new wallets in the past 8 days and accumulated 312,052 $ETH($1.34B) from #FalconX, #GalaxyDigital, and #BitGo.https://t.co/1Hk0pVMW6s pic.twitter.com/NTUIpS1QLr

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) August 12, 2025

The purchase volume exceeded by $300m the record daily inflow into US spot Ethereum ETFs. On August 11 they attracted $1bn, the best result since launch.

Shares of 180 Life Sciences Corp., recently renamed ETHZilla, jumped more than 90% after news that tech billionaire Peter Thiel had become a shareholder.

According to SEC filings, Thiel now owns 7.5% of ETHZilla through several of his funds. The biotech firm recently changed its business model and focused on accumulating digital assets (DAT).

ETHZilla said it holds 82,186 ETH worth about $349m and $238m in cash equivalents. The average purchase price was $3,806. Earlier this month the company raised $425m from more than 60 investors, including Electric Capital, Polychain Capital and Eigenlayer founder Sreeram Kannan.

The DAT model is gaining popularity. Investors are turning small public companies into cryptocurrency holders, following Strategy’s example.

“We have deployed more than $350m to rapidly execute our strategy of building an Ethereum treasury. We believe this reserve will unlock cash flow for our shareholders,” said ETHZilla chairman MacAndrew Rudisill.

Analysts say such large accumulations could push ether towards its all-time high of $4,890. Demand has risen ahead of US inflation data that could influence the Fed decision on interest rates on September 17.

According to CME FedWatch, markets assign an 82% probability of holding the current level. At the same time, short-term Ethereum holders are actively taking profits, which may indicate expectations of a pullback.

Earlier, the second-largest cryptocurrency became the leader in price gains among leading cryptoassets.