• Ethereum treasury firm BitMine lifted its holdings to 4.37 million ETH after another weekly purchase of the top altcoin.
• Chairman Thomas Lee says BitMine will continue buying ETH amid the market downturn, terming the long-term outlook as "outstanding."
• ETH has been consolidating below $2,000 after a strong decline earlier in February.

Ethereum (ETH) treasury firm BitMine Immersion continued its weekly purchase of the top altcoin last week after acquiring 45,759 ETH.

The purchase lifted the company's holdings to 4.37 million ETH, valued at $8.67 billion at the time of publication, or 3.62% of ETH's circulating supply. BitMine plans to acquire 5% of the entire ETH circulation.

From that figure, the Nevada-based firm has also staked 3.04 million ETH across three staking providers. BitMine reiterated plans to launch a 'Made in America' Validator Network solution and estimates it will capture a staking yield of $252 million annually once it has fully staked its total holdings.

In a Tuesday statement, BitMine Chairman Thomas Lee noted that Ethereum is demonstrating product-market fit in line with three key long-duration secular drivers, given its neutrality and uptime record. Lee mentioned areas including AI and AI agents verifying and collecting payments, creators leveraging proof of human and other standards on L2s, and Wall Street tokenizing assets and using onchain privacy standards on Ethereum.

However, sentiment and enthusiasm have remained weak since the October 10 leverage flush.

"Investor sentiment and enthusiasm, by contrast, are rock bottom, reminding us of the forlornness and dejection seen at the November 2022 lows and depths of 2018 crypto winter," said Lee. "For us at Bitmine, we cannot control the price of Ethereum, and the company is acquiring ETH regardless of price trend, as the long-term outlook for Ethereum remains outstanding."

BitMine's average cost basis is around $3,800, meaning it holds unrealized losses of $8 billion on its ETH assets, according to data compiled by smart money tracker Lookonchain.

Meanwhile, the company outlined other holdings of 193 Bitcoin (BTC), a $200 million stake in Beast Industries, $17 million in Worldcoin (WLD) treasury Eightco Holdings shares and total cash of $670 million.

BitMine shares have dropped by over 3% as of writing on Tuesday.

Ethereum Price Forecast: ETH extends consolidation around $2,000

Ethereum saw $43.1 million in liquidations over the past 24 hours, led by $25.4 million in long liquidations, per Coinglass data.

ETH is trading around $1,980, continuing a consolidation pattern that has persisted over the past two weeks following a strong decline earlier in the month. The top altcoin has to sustain a firm close above the 20-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) and the $2,388 resistance to improve the short-term outlook.

On the downside, ETH could decline toward the $1,404 support if it fails to hold $1,741.

The Relative Strength Index (RSI) and Stochastic Oscillator (Stoch) are range-bound below their neutral levels, indicating a dominant bearish momentum.