BitMine Stakes Another $277M in ETH as Researcher Raises Red Flag over Activity Surge

Tom Lee’s BitMine has added another large batch of Ether ETH $3 090 24h volatility: 3.8% Market cap: $372.85 B Vol. 24h: $23.51 B to its staking book. The company recently staked an additional 86,848 ETH, worth around $277.5 million at current prices. This brings the firm’s total staked Ether to 1,771,936 ETH, valued at roughly $5.66 billion.

Last week, BitMine Chair Tom Lee said the firm plans to become the largest staking provider across crypto markets. He projected yearly revenue of about $374 million, equal to more than $1 million per day, based on current reward rates.

BitMine is backed by major institutional names, including Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund and Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest. The firm remains the largest Ethereum treasury holder globally, with most of its ETH now locked in staking contracts.

Staking Demand Surges

BitMine’s activity comes as demand for Ether staking continues to climb. Ethereum’s staking entry queue has spiked to about 2.7 million ETH on Jan. 20. This is the highest level since mid-2023.

At the same time, the staking exit queue has dropped sharply. The current levels are the first clear fall since mid-2025. Analysts say fewer exits can reduce short-term selling risk as less ETH is waiting to be released back to the market.

Earlier, on Jan. 20, a newly created wallet withdrew 3,300 ETH, worth around $10.51 million, from Bybit.

https://twitter.com/OnchainLens/status/2013457583366119832

The move added to signs of active positioning as the leading cryptocurrency is trading just above the $31,000 level.

Red Flag over Activity

It is interesting to note that active addresses on the Ethereum network recently doubled to 8 million within a month. During the week starting Jan. 12, around 2.7 million new addresses appeared, about 170% above normal levels. Daily transactions also moved above 2.8 million.

However, security researcher Andrey Sergeenkov said recent record activity may be linked to address poisoning attacks, made cheaper by lower fees since December.

Sergeenkov said these spikes likely came from mass spam activity. Address poisoning means sending small transfers from look-alike wallet addresses, hoping users copy the wrong one later.

Notably, network fees fell more than 60%, cutting attack costs after the Fusaka upgrade in early December.

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