Ether Slips Below $1,740 as BitMine Lines Up $300M Preferred Raise; Tom Lee Reiterates $250K Long-Term View

Ether fell below $1,740 as BitMine Immersion Technologies outlined plans to raise as much as $300 million through the sale of 3 million Series A preferred shares, with proceeds earmarked for additional ETH purchases, staking and validator buildout. The preferred shares carry a $100 stated value and a 9.50% annual cash dividend paid weekly. BitMine said it intends to list the issue on the NYSE under the ticker BMNP. The company described native ETH staking as its primary revenue engine. Through its MAVAN platform, BitMine has 4.7 million ETH staked, generating an estimated $276 million in annualized rewards. The structure is designed to fund the cash dividend with protocol yield while allowing its ETH treasury to continue compounding via validator income. BitMine's latest buying added 26,497 ETH, valued at about $52 million, taking total holdings to 5,416,901 ETH, roughly 4.48% of Ethereum's circulating supply. It also reported about $446 million in cash to support operations and validator scaling. Earlier tranches included a $151 million purchase in May after ETH fell below $2,200, followed by a $237 million add-on the next week. BitMine now says it is above 88% of its stated objective of owning 5% of all ETH, positioning it as one of the network's largest single corporate validators. Institutional demand via regulated vehicles has weakened. Spot Ethereum ETFs have recorded 17 straight sessions of net outflows since May 8, including about $52.94 million withdrawn in the latest day. Aggregate ETF net assets have declined to roughly $9.96 billion, marking the longest outflow streak since launch. On-chain accumulation from long-term holders also cooled. Glassnode's hodler net position change, which measures monthly supply movement among coins older than 155 days, peaked at 339,222 ETH on June 1 and fell to 68,470 ETH by June 3, an 80% drop in about 48 hours. With both ETF flows and long-holder demand retreating, spot liquidity thinned, leaving markets more exposed to forced selling. A leverage unwind is already underway. Perpetual futures funding rates hit their highest level since early 2026 before reversing, coinciding with an estimated $369 million in liquidations across ETH markets over the past week. Ether is down about 10% over seven days. Open interest reached a record 16 million ETH on May 28, suggesting crowded long positioning that has since been vulnerable to a washout across centralized venues and on-chain margin protocols. In contrast to the risk-off tape, Fundstrat's Tom Lee told the Proof of Talk conference in Paris that he sees ETH at $250,000 over the long term, implying roughly a 50x move from current levels. He argued that autonomous AI agents will require near-instant settlement that legacy payment networks cannot provide, positioning Ethereum as a default rail for machine-to-machine commerce. Lee also pointed to stablecoin adoption and real-world asset tokenization on Ethereum as additional drivers he believes could push the network's value into the trillions, calling today's bearish sentiment a contrarian accumulation signal. Ether was last trading around $1,739 after a 7.71% one-day drop. Market capitalization stood near $209.6 billion, with 24-hour volume above $24.3 billion, signaling active distribution rather than muted participation. Technically, the former $1,800 support zone has turned into immediate overhead resistance, while $1,700 is the key level bulls need to defend to avoid a measured move toward $1,550. A recovery above $1,800 accompanied by improving spot ETF flows would undermine the breakdown case; sustained closes below $1,700 alongside continued ETF redemptions would raise the risk of deeper capitulation as deleveraging runs its course.