Bitmine buys $294m more Ethereum ahead of Clarity Act ‘markup in May’

Bitmine continues to amass the largest Ethereum war chest as US lawmakers debate crypto’s future.

On Monday, the crypto treasury firm bought up another $294 million worth of Ether in its largest haul since December. It now holds roughly $12 billion worth of the second-largest cryptoasset, alongside significant equity stakes in ventures including Beast Industries and Eightco.

Bitmine Chair Tom Lee said Ethereum is benefiting from “dual tailwinds”: Wall Street tokenising assets and artificial intelligence. Bitmine is one of the few public equities offering exposure to OpenAI via Eightco.

Bitmine’s latest haul comes as Senator Cynthia Lummis said at the Bitcoin 2026 conference on Monday that the Senate will mark up the long-awaited Clarity Act in May — a pivotal step toward establishing a federal framework for digital assets.

Lummis is one of the most prominent voices on Capitol Hill backing the crypto industry and an early Bitcoin buyer.

Ethereum is up 14% over the past month, though still down 54% from its August peak of $4,950. Spot exchange-traded funds tracking the token have drawn $489 million in April, snapping a five month losing streak, DefiLlama data shows.

“In our view, there is a lot of meaning to Ethereum being the best 'war-time store of value' and to Ether being the asset leading since the [Iran] war started," said Lee.

Though its share price is down over 60% since August, Bitmine enjoys backing from ARK's Cathie Wood, Founders Fund, Pantera, Kraken…