Peter Thiel just announced a 9.1% stake in an Ethereum holding company.
BitMine Immersion Technologies recently announced a Ethereum reserve of over $500 million.
The stock rallied as much as 30% on Wednesday after the announcement.
Shares of a little-known crypto mining company rocketed higher last week after announcing plans to amass a trove of ethereum.
Now, famed venture capitalist and Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel is putting his money behind it as well, disclosing a 9.1% stake in BitMine Immersion Technologies on Tuesday, according to a 13G filing.
Shares of Bitmine Immersion jumped as much as 30% to $51.68 before paring gains to about 20% close to midday.
Thiel owns 5,094,000 shares of the company through his venture capital fund Founders Fund. Thiel has been a longtime proponent of crypto, and Founders Fund has been an early institutional buyer of bitcoin.
Founders Fund began initially buying crypto in 2014 before exiting its position in 2022. Then, in 2023, Founders Fund invested $200 million in bitcoin and Ethereum.
Earlier this month, BitMine stock surged over 3,000% after announcing plans to buy $250 million of Ethereum and announcing Fundstrat’s Tom Lee as chairman. The stock has since come down from its $135 high but remains up over 500% year-to-date.
Since its initial announcement, BitMine has doubled down on its Ethereum commitment, announcing Ethereum holdings of over $500 million on July 14. The company now holds 163,142 ether at a cost of $3,072.67 per unit.
The investment from Founders Fund shows an increasing institutional interest in the world’s second-biggest cryptocurrency. Ethereum has seen a boost in recent months as stablecoin legislation gains steam in Congress, given its central role in powering the infrastructure behind stablecoins.
BitMine’s plans to purchase Ethereum follows the playbook of Michal Saylor’s Strategy, which has found great success stockpiling bitcoin.
“We are pleased that we added significantly to our ETH treasury just 3 days after closing our private placement,” Jonathan Bates, CEO of BitMine, said in a press release. “Clearly Wall Street is getting ‘ETH-pilled.'”
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