BitMine Invests $259 Million in ETH, Nears 1 Million Ether Validator Queue

BitMine Creates Congestion in Ethereum Validator Queue

BitMine Immersion Technologies has recently added an additional 82,560 Ether, valued at approximately $259 million, to the Ethereum staking system, generating significant congestion in the validator entry queue amid increasing institutional demand for yields. Data provided by Arkham shows that the firm has made multiple large deposits into Ethereum's BatchDeposit contract over the past few hours. With the new staking, the total Ether staked by BitMine has reached 544,064 Ether, estimated at around $1.62 billion, according to on-chain analyst Lookonchain.

BitMine first began staking ETH on December 26, transferring nearly $219 million into staking contracts on the Ethereum network. In November, the company announced plans to initiate Ether staking in the first quarter of 2026 through an internal infrastructure known as the Made-in-America Validator Network (MAVAN). It has selected three institutional staking providers for a pilot program, distributing a limited volume of ETH to assess performance, security, and operational reliability before expanding the program.

According to a blockchain explorer, the Ethereum validator entry queue has reached approximately 977,000 ETH, with an estimated wait time of nearly 17 days for new validators to become active. Conversely, the exit activity remains relatively low, with just over 113,000 ETH awaiting withdrawal. Ethereum network data indicates that more than 35.5 million ETH, or approximately 29% of the total supply, is now staked, while the annualized staking yield stands at around 2.54%.

Abdul, the head of DeFi at layer 1 blockchain Monad, stated in a post on X last week that the last time the entry and exit queues reversed in June, Ether "doubled in price shortly thereafter" and predicted that "2026 will be a spectacular year." Meanwhile, Tom Lee, president of BitMine, encourages shareholders to approve a significant increase in the authorized share count of the company to 50 billion, arguing that this measure is necessary to accommodate future stock splits should the price of Ether continue to rise.