Saylor Sits Out Bitcoin Rally; Lee Keeps Buying Ethereum

Bitcoin rose more than 20% toward $80,000 and Ethereum climbed about 30% above $2,400 in the week ended Aug. 23. The gains coincided with roughly $2.6 billion in ETF inflows and large forced liquidations of bearish positions.

Between Aug. 17 and Aug. 23, Strategy sold 18.26 million shares of its common stock for roughly $2.01 billion in net proceeds. The company placed $300 million into an existing USD Reserve, used $136.4 million to repurchase STRC preferred shares, and moved most of the remainder into a newly created USD Cash account. That raised Strategy’s dollar liquidity to $6.69 billion as of Aug. 23, including $5.10 billion in the reserve and $1.59 billion in the cash pool.

Strategy holds 840,447 Bitcoin acquired for about $63.36 billion, with an average acquisition price of $75,385, and did not add to that position during the rally. The company retired 1.43 million STRC shares and retains authorizations to repurchase up to $516.6 million in preferred stock and $1 billion in common stock. Strategy wrote that the additional liquidity would allow faster responses to market conditions, including “dislocations” in Bitcoin and its own securities.

BitMine Immersion Technologies purchased 32,447 ETH during the same week, bringing its holdings to 5.85 million ETH as of Aug. 23, roughly 4.8% of Ethereum’s circulating supply and close to the company’s 5% target. BitMine has added to its Ethereum treasury every week since launching the strategy in June 2025.

About 5.07 million ETH, or roughly 87% of BitMine’s treasury, is staked, which generates native yield while leaving the tokens exposed to future price changes. Chairman Tom Lee projected annualized staking revenues of $330 million. BitMine reported about $308 million in cash and marketable securities alongside its crypto holdings.

The price moves pushed both tokens to multi-month highs and were the strongest weekly advances since May 2025. During the same week, Strategy increased dollar liquidity while BitMine increased its Ethereum holdings and staking exposure.