Bitmine makes a strong move: 186,000 ETH staked in a single day, Ethereum ecosystem welcomes massive locking of assets

According to the on-chain data monitoring platform Lookonchain, a wallet closely associated with cryptocurrency asset management firm Bitmine recently deposited 186,560 ETH into the Ethereum “Beacon Depositor” staking contract. Based on current market prices, this transaction is valued at up to $625 million.

This is not Bitmine’s first large-scale staking. Not long ago, an address widely believed to belong to Bitmine completed a staking of ETH worth $519.8 million, involving 154,304 ETH. The consecutive high-profile operations have rapidly increased its total staked amount to 1,530,784 ETH, with a total value surpassing $5.13 billion, accounting for approximately 4% of the total staked ETH on the Ethereum Beacon Chain.

Core Event: Bitmine’s Ethereum “Lightning War”

The most attention-grabbing development in the crypto world recently is the aggressive staking strategy of publicly listed company Bitmine Immersion Technologies (stock code: BMNR) in the Ethereum staking space.

According to authoritative on-chain data analysis, Bitmine has completed a series of large staking operations in a short period. The latest occurred in January 2026, when its related address deposited 186,560 ETH into the Ethereum staking contract in one go, valued at $625 million, pushing the company’s total staked ETH to a new high of 1,530,784 ETH.

Data Perspective: Bitmine’s Ethereum Empire Map

To understand the scale of this staking, it must be viewed in the context of Bitmine’s overall holdings. Based on disclosures and on-chain data tracking, Bitmine has built a massive Ethereum asset matrix.

This series of operations shows a clear “acceleration.” From crossing 1 million ETH staked to surpassing 1.5 million ETH, Bitmine took less than a week. This rapid, cost-agnostic accumulation strategy is extremely rare among traditional institutional investors.

Strategic Background: Key Layout Before Shareholders’ Meeting

Bitmine’s aggressive staking is not an isolated event but part of its overall strategy. The timing of these actions coincides with a crucial shareholders’ meeting.

According to an official announcement from Nasdaq, Bitmine held its annual shareholders’ meeting on January 15, 2026, at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas. One of the core agenda items was voting on an amendment to increase the company’s authorized share capital. Chairman Tom Lee explicitly urged shareholders to support the proposal before the meeting. The logic is that Bitmine’s current authorized share capital of 500 million shares is about to be exhausted; without increasing authorization, its pace of accumulating ETH would be forced to slow down. By staking to earn stable income (currently around 3.12% annualized yield), Bitmine expects its massive ETH holdings to generate $130 million to $160 million in staking rewards annually.

Market Ripples: Ethereum’s Supply-Demand Structure and Price Dynamics

Bitmine’s massive staking activity has directly and indirectly impacted the Ethereum market. The most immediate effect is a significant reduction in ETH’s immediate circulating supply. Over 1.5 million ETH are locked in staking contracts, meaning an equivalent potential selling pressure has been removed from the market.

Market reactions have been positive. Concurrent with the latest staking news from Bitmine, Ethereum’s price showed strong momentum. As of January 15, 2026, Ethereum was priced at $3,364.75, up 1.17% intraday.

Looking at a longer cycle, Ethereum’s price has increased by +4.88% over the past 7 days and +13.03% over the past 30 days. Market analysis suggests that the continuous locking of assets by large institutions provides structural support for ETH prices.

Industry Trend: 2026, Staking Becomes Standard for Institutions

Bitmine’s case is a microcosm of the current major trend in the crypto industry. Staking is evolving from an optional feature to a core method for institutional participation in cryptocurrencies.

Industry experts point out that by 2026, for Ethereum investors, staking will no longer be an independent add-on but a central element shaping how institutions access crypto assets, manage yields, and handle risks. This shift is especially evident at the financial product level. Traditional asset management firms like WisdomTree have launched exchange-traded products (ETPs) based entirely on staked ETH (such as stETH) in Europe.

It is expected that in the future, “fully staked” ETH ETFs may become industry standards rather than exceptions. Such products can maintain liquidity while capturing all staking rewards, offering significant economic benefits.

Future Outlook: Infrastructure Upgrades and Ecosystem Expansion

Market enthusiasm for Ethereum staking is also based on expectations for the network’s future development. In 2026, Ethereum plans to advance several key upgrades, including zero-knowledge proof validation and Verkle trees, aiming to increase network throughput to 10,000 TPS and further strengthen its dominance in real-world asset (RWA) tokenization and DeFi ecosystems.

Currently, Ethereum holds a 65.5% market share in RWA tokenization. As technological upgrades are implemented and application scenarios expand, Ethereum’s attributes and value capture as a “productive digital asset” are expected to further strengthen.

For Bitmine, its strategic success will be deeply tied to Ethereum’s long-term development. Its more than 80% stock price retracement (from a high of $161 to recent around $32) reflects market concerns over valuation fluctuations of crypto custody companies during bull and bear cycles, but may also indicate new opportunities.

While Bitmine’s 1.53 million ETH quietly generates yields on the Beacon Chain, the validator queue for Ethereum staking has surged to 2.3 million ETH, reaching the highest level since August 2023. This ever-growing queue resembles a digital river formed by consensus.

On one side of the river are giants like Bitmine voting with hundreds of millions of dollars, sinking assets into the underlying protocols; on the other side are countless individual investors, who gently click on platforms like Gate to inject their ETH into the future. Beneath the surface, the roots of Verkle trees and ZK verification technologies are quietly growing, ready to support the next generation of financial forests with tens of thousands of TPS.