Bitmine’s $257M annualized staking income ‘fills’ operational gaps, share buybacks: analysts

Bitmine Immersion Technologies, the largest corporate Ether holder, surpassed 5 million Ether in staked tokens, which will generate an estimated $257 million in annualized revenue, according to a company announcement on Monday. 

Ether (ETH) staking is emerging as an important revenue stream that generated about 98% of Bitmine’s revenue for the fiscal quarter ending May 31, or $45.7 million of the company’s $46.5 million, analysts from Bitfinex exchange told Cointelegraph, adding:

“It funds operations and its share buyback program: 19.1 million shares repurchased since July against a $4 billion authorisation, without Bitmine having to sell any Ether.”

Ether treasury companies are facing growing unrealized losses as their margins are pressured by the decline in Ether’s spot price, which fell roughly 23% during the second quarter of 2026. 

SharpLink, the second-largest Ether treasury company, reported a net loss of $394 million for the second quarter of 2026, largely driven by $391 million in unrealized crypto losses.

Bitmine ranks as the largest corporate Ether holder with 5.54 million ETH, currently worth $9.4 billion. SharpLink ranks second, with 863,000 Ether, currently valued at $1.46 billion, according to data from the StrategicEthReserve.

Ether emerges as new treasury asset despite staking revenue risk

Bitmine’s staking milestone demonstrates how Ether can generate native yield as a treasury asset while Bitcoin (BTC) is mainly viewed as a balance sheet appreciation asset, according to Alvin Kan, chief operating officer at Bitget Wallet.

While Bitmine’s staking revenue may encourage more crypto-native companies to adopt Ether as a treasury asset, this is not risk-free income, Kan told Cointelegraph, adding:

“The revenue is annualized, depends on ETH price and staking yield, and comes with operational, liquidity, validator and regulatory considerations.” 

This makes Ether staking more akin to a yield-bearing enhancement to treasury strategy, rather than a “replacement” for disciplined capital management, explained Kan. 

Related: EToro to buy TradeZero as Q2 crypto revenue falls 30%

Still, the recurring staking income acts as a “buffer” to Ether’s price fluctuations and ensures “topline predictability that can be valued without regard to spot ETH price,” wrote Yiannis Zourmpanos, a contributor to Seeking Alpha, in a July 28 report.

Staked Ether supply, all-time chart. Source: Validatorqueue.com 

Ether staking currently pays a 2.61% annual percentage rate (APR). Over 34% of the total Ether supply is currently staked across 897,064 validators, according to data on the Validatorqueue dashboard.

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