Tom Lee's BitMine Uplisted to NYSE as Ethereum Firm Expands Buyback Program to $4 Billion

In brief

• BitMine Immersion Technologies was unlisted from the smaller NYSE American exchange to the primary NYSE.
• The firm's board of directors also approved a major increase to its share buyback program, bumping its authorization from $1 billion to $4 billion.
• Shares in the firm are up around 1% while ETH remains roughly flat over the last 24 hours.

Publicly traded Ethereum treasury firm BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) was uplisted to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Thursday, with shares of BMNR concluding trading on the smaller NYSE American exchange with Wednesday's market close. 

Shares in the firm are up nearly 1% since opening on the new trading venue, recently changing hands around $21.75. 

"Today, BitMine achieved a major milestone by being uplisted to the 'Big Board' NYSE,” BitMine Chairman Tom Lee said in a statement. “The NYSE is the envy of capital markets around the world, and BitMine is proud to be the newest company traded on this exchange.”

Alongside its uplisting, the firm also announced its board of directors approved an increase in its previously established share buyback program, raising its limits from $1 billion to $4 billion. 

"BitMine's expanded $4 billion buyback reflects our commitment to shareholders," said Lee. “There may be a time in the future when BitMine shares are trading below intrinsic value, and the Company wants to be in a position to accretively retire common shares."

It doesn’t appear that BitMine has actually used funds to repurchase shares to date. Decrypt reached out to the company for confirmation and clarification, but did not immediately receive a response.

Other publicly traded digital asset treasuries have similarly approved share buyback programs to repurchase outstanding shares when their mNAV—the ratio of their market cap compared to the value of the net assets they hold—trades below 1, or at a discount. 

For example, competing Ethereum treasury firm Sharplink (SBET) has remained committed to only acquiring ETH when its mNAV is above 1. At all other times, the firm repurchases shares of SBET in a move that is deemed more beneficial for shareholders.

While Lee indicates the firm may repurchase shares in the future when they are trading below “intrinsic value,” publicly available data shows that the firm is currently trading below an mNAV of 1. 

Nevertheless, it has sought to consistently purchase Ethereum, not shares of BMNR, adding around $150 million worth of ETH last week.  

At the time of writing, its intraday market cap is around $9.81 billion, according to data from Yahoo Finance. Meanwhile, its Ethereum tokens alone—of which it has more than 4.8 million—account for more than $10.6 billion in net assets as ETH changes hands at $2,216. 

The firm also maintains around $14 million in BTC and total cash holdings of $864 million, giving it around $11.4 billion in total holdings, according to a Monday press release.

Shares of BMNR have fallen around 63% in the last six months of trading as Ethereum itself has slid 55% from its August all-time high of $4,946.