First BlackRock, now Bitmine. Will Tom Lee’s Ethereum staking play save share price?

Bitmine’s Ethereum staking product — the Made In America VAlidator Network — just went live.

Now the digital asset treasury, which is already staking nearly $7 billion of Ethereum, is planning even more avant-garde moves to bridge crypto with traditional finance, according to Bitmine Chair Tom Lee.

“MAVAN represents a critical step in our vision to build one of the leading staking and onchain infrastructure platforms globally,” Lee said on Wednesday.

“We plan to expand across additional proof-of-stake networks and critical blockchain infrastructure over time, and through 2026, we’ll grow our efforts in areas such as onchain vaults, post-quantum client development, and more,” he added.

The initiative highlights how traditional finance is merging with crypto and comes on the back of a similar move made by investment giant BlackRock earlier this year.

Over 30% of Ethereum’s total circulating supply is now staked, according to ValidatorQueue data. In other words, nearly one-third of all Ethereum is now illiquid, earning just under 2.8% yield — modest by crypto industry standards.

MAVAN plans to broaden its offering to cater to institutional investors, custodians and ecosystem partners seeking high-quality staking infrastructure, Lee said.

Still, the grand ambitions haven’t helped out Bitmine’s share price, which has dropped 66% since October. While its share price jumped some 2% on the back of the news, pre-market trading suggests shares have dropped over 3% of their value since.

Bitmine is the biggest digital asset treasury holder of Ethereum. The firm and other of its kin have struggled in the market after $19 billion worth of leverage crypto trading positions were liquidated in October, which triggered a cascade of sell-offs that dragged down the price of cryptocurrencies.

The total cryptocurrency market has lost almost half of its value since. For DATs like Bitmine, the crash has triggered falling share prices, investor rebellions and mass sales.

Even so, Lee remains one of the most prominent Ethereum bulls and predicts $250,000 per token, but hasn’t provided a timeline for that call.

Institutions back Ethereum

MAVAN’s debut comes amid continuous institutional support for staked Ethereum, despite the network’s token price still down 57% from its August peak of $4,950.

BlackRock, the world’s largest investment manager, launched its newest Ethereum exchange-traded fund on March 12. The iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF saw close to $16 million in trading volume after debuting with $100 million in assets under management.

Thomas Brunner, head of custody and staking at Sygnum Bank in Zürich, told DL News that these new staked Ethereum products from BlackRock and Bitmine appeal to traditional finance investors.

These clients typically want Ethereum exposure and yield “through a familiar brokerage account, without having to self-custody or navigate the mechanics of staking directly,” Brunner said.

BlackRock said in its 2026 outlook that Ethereum will lead the tokenisation of real-world assets.

In his 2026 annual letter to shareholders, CEO Larry Fink highlighted tokenisation — the conversion of traditional financial assets into blockchain-based tokens — as a means of lowering barriers to investment.

“Half the world’s population carries a digital wallet on their phone,” Fink said on Tuesday.

“Imagine if that same digital wallet could also let you invest in a broad mix of companies for the long term — as easily as sending a payment.”

Lance Datskoluo is DL News’ Europe-based markets correspondent. Got a tip? Email him at [e-mail].