Tom Lee, chairman of ether treasury agency BitMine Immersion (BMNR), urged shareholders to approve a board proposal for a pointy improve within the firm’s licensed share rely.
In a start-of-the-year message, Lee stated the proposal to spice up the corporate’s variety of shares to 50 billion from 500 million just isn’t a precursor to a transfer to “dilute” shareholders.
“[This]t doesn’t imply we’re issuing 50 billion shares. That’s what we would like the whole max shares to be,” Lee stated.
Acknowledging {that a} larger share rely does make it simpler to allow the corporate to lift capital, Lee reminded that it additionally permits BitMine to pursue opportunistic dealmaking and — most significantly, in keeping with Lee — accommodate future share splits.
Lee argued that BitMine’s share value has more and more tracked ether for the reason that firm pivoted final yr to make ETH its main treasury asset. If ether’s value rises over time as he expects — as excessive as $250,000 if bitcoin reaches $1 million — splits shall be essential to preserve shares “accessible” to the general public.
Lee framed the proposal inside a broader thesis that Ethereum will play a central function in Wall Road’s push towards tokenized monetary markets, pointing to public feedback by BlackRock CEO Larry Fink about blockchain-based market infrastructure. Lee has individually stated he has been accumulating ether personally, aligning his macro view with BitMine’s treasury technique.
Lee reminded shareholders that they’ve till Jan. 14 to vote on the proposal, with BitMine’s annual shareholder assembly scheduled for Jan. 15 in Las Vegas.
