Saylor sat out Bitcoin’s 20% rally while Tom Lee bought Ethereum after a 30% surge

Bitcoin and Ethereum surged last week as falling Treasury yields, renewed US crypto optimism, and a wave of short liquidations sent digital assets sharply higher.

Bitcoin climbed more than 20% and approached $80,000, while Ethereum gained about 30% in its strongest weekly advance since May 2025.

The rally drew fresh $2.6 billion in ETF inflows, forced billions of dollars in bearish positions out of the market, and pushed both assets to multi-month highs.

Interestingly, the breakout produced a sharp split between the companies behind crypto’s two largest corporate treasuries.

Strategy, the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, used the strength to raise capital without adding to its BTC holdings, while BitMine Immersion Technologies, the largest ETH holding company, continued buying the digital asset into the rally.

Strategy uses the rally to build a $6.7 billion cash buffer

Strategy’s decision to sit out Bitcoin’s breakout coincided with one of its largest capital raises, leaving the company with more cash to deploy than at any point in its Bitcoin-buying campaign.

Between Aug. 17 and Aug. 23, Strategy said that it sold 18.26 million MSTR shares for about $2.01 billion in net proceeds.

Rather than recycle that money into Bitcoin, it directed $300 million into its existing USD Reserve, used $136.4 million to repurchase STRC preferred shares, and placed most of the remainder into a newly created USD Cash account.

That pushed the company’s dollar liquidity to $6.69 billion as of Aug. 23, including $5.10 billion in its reserve and $1.59 billion in the new cash pool.

The distinction between the two accounts gives Strategy considerably more flexibility than the headline cash figure suggests.

The USD Reserve is primarily intended to cover preferred-stock dividends and interest obligations, while USD Cash can be used to buy Bitcoin, repurchase MSTR or preferred shares, repay convertible debt or fund other treasury transactions.

Strategy said the additional liquidity would allow it to respond more quickly to market conditions, including “dislocations” in Bitcoin and its own securities.

The timing stands out because Bitcoin’s rally carried the asset back above Strategy’s average acquisition price of $75,385.

The company currently owns 840,447 BTC acquired for about $63.36 billion, but did not add to that position during a week when capital markets were strong enough for it to raise more than $2 billion from common shareholders.

Instead, Strategy used part of the proceeds to retire 1.43 million STRC shares, adding another layer to a capital-allocation strategy that now extends well beyond simply issuing equity to buy Bitcoin.

The company still has $516.6 million authorized for additional preferred-stock repurchases and a separate $1 billion authorization to buy back MSTR.

With billions now sitting in cash, Strategy has effectively given itself the option to wait for cheaper Bitcoin, distressed prices in its own securities, or other opportunities before deploying the capital.

BitMine keeps buying after Ethereum’s 30% surge

BitMine took the opposite approach, treating Ethereum’s sharpest weekly gain in more than a year as a reason to keep accumulating rather than wait for a pullback.

The company bought another 32,447 ETH during the week, lifting its holdings to 5.85 million tokens as of Aug. 23. That represents about 4.8% of Ethereum’s circulating supply and leaves BitMine close to its stated goal of controlling 5% of all ETH.

The purchase extended a buying streak that has continued every week since the company launched its Ethereum treasury strategy in June 2025, even as the asset’s price rose sharply. ETH’s roughly 30% weekly gain was its strongest since May 2025 and pushed the token back above $2,400.

Chairman Tom Lee framed the move as part of a broader breakout rather than a reason to slow purchases. BitMine pointed to two previous periods since 2021 when ETH posted comparable weekly gains, both followed by substantially larger advances over the following months.

The company has also committed most of its existing holdings to staking. About 5.07 million ETH, or roughly 87% of its treasury, is currently staked, allowing BitMine to generate yield while maintaining exposure to further price appreciation.

Lee said:

“Annualized staking revenues are now projected at $330 million.”

That gives BitMine more room to remain aggressive than Strategy, whose Bitcoin holdings generate no native yield and whose growing preferred-stock and debt obligations require significant dollar liquidity.

BitMine reported just $308 million in cash and marketable securities alongside its crypto holdings, reflecting how heavily its balance sheet remains tilted toward Ethereum.

The contrast became sharper after last week’s rally. Strategy used strong markets to raise cash and preserve flexibility for the next dislocation. BitMine used the same market strength to move closer to its supply target, effectively betting that Ethereum’s breakout still has further to run.