Tom Lee: BitMine is evaluating slowing down its Ethereum purchases and shifting towards stock buybacks.

According to ME News, on May 8th (UTC+8), BitMine Chairman Tom Lee stated at the Consensus 2026 conference in Miami that BitMine is currently buying approximately 100,000 ETH per week. At this rate, BitMine aims to reach its 5% Ethereum holding target within the next six weeks. However, the company is evaluating whether to slow down the buying pace and instead allocate capital to its $4 billion buyback program. He stated that annualized staking income exceeds $300 million (approximately $1 million per day), the company's overall daily cash flow exceeds $1.2 million, and it holds approximately $700 million in cash reserves. Regarding market predictions, Tom Lee stated that if Bitcoin's closing price at the end of May is above $76,000, it will mark a record three consecutive months of gains, officially ending the bear market, as Bitcoin has never historically remained in a bear market after three consecutive months of gains. He gave three price targets for Ethereum: if Bitcoin rises to $250,000 and the ETH/BTC exchange rate returns to its 2021 high, Ethereum would be around $22,000; if the ETH/BTC exchange rate reaches the extremely optimistic level of 0.25, it would be around $62,000; and if tokenization explodes and Ethereum becomes the main settlement layer for a multi-trillion dollar market, it would be around $250,000. (Source: ME)