Treasury Strategies Under Pressure: BitMine Expands While ZOOZ and Others Face Delisting

BitMine Massively Expands Ethereum Position

Treasury company BitMine has further intensified its Ethereum strategy, recently acquiring 29,462 ETH worth $88 million from BitGo and Kraken ^[1]. This is according to data from on-chain analytics firm Lookonchain ^[1].

The leading Ethereum treasury had already announced on Monday that it had purchased 98,852 ETH the previous week ^[1]. BitMine now holds a total of just under 4.07 million ETH, acquired at an average price of $2,991 per ETH ^[1]. The total value of the holdings amounts to $12 billion ^[1].

"Enormous Milestone" After 5.5 Months

"This is an enormous milestone achieved in just 5.5 months," explained Tom Lee, Chairman of BitMine, following the recent purchase ^[1]. He added: "We are making rapid progress toward the 'alchemy of 5 percent' and are already seeing synergies emerging from our extensive ETH holdings. We are a key institution paving the way for Wall Street into blockchain through tokenization." ^[1]

With its holdings, BitMine already owns approximately 3.37 percent of the circulating Ethereum supply ^[1]. In comparison, MicroStrategy holds 3.36 percent of the circulating BTC supply after more than five years of applying its Bitcoin strategy ^[1]. One important difference: Unlike the leading cryptocurrency, Ether has no absolute cap on the number of coins ^[1].

ZOOZ Faces Nasdaq Delisting

While BitMine expands, several Bitcoin treasury companies are coming under considerable pressure. ZOOZ Strategy, a dual-listed company on Nasdaq and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, received a compliance warning from Nasdaq after its shares fell below the required minimum bid threshold of $1 ^[2].

The company, which holds 1,036 BTC as a strategic asset, announced on Monday that it is monitoring the situation and considering a reverse share split if necessary ^[2]. In a reverse share split, a company reduces the number of its outstanding shares and proportionally increases the price per share to boost the stock price without changing the overall market value ^[2].

The warning does not mean immediate delisting from the exchange. According to Nasdaq rules, ZOOZ has until June 15, 2026, to achieve a closing price of at least $1 for ten consecutive trading days ^[2]. If other criteria are met, the company could be eligible for a second grace period ^[2].

Other Treasury Companies Affected

ZOOZ is not alone with these problems. Less than a week earlier, KindlyMD, another Bitcoin treasury company created through a merger with David Bailey's Bitcoin-native holding company Nakamoto, also received a price deficiency notice from Nasdaq after its shares fell below the $1 mark ^[2].

Digital Currency X Technology (DCX), a digital assets company with more than $1.4 billion in token holdings following the acquisition of EdgeAI tokens, also announced on December 18 that it had received a separate Nasdaq non-compliance notice regarding minimum market value requirements ^[2].

Pressure from Index Exclusion

Beyond the compliance issues facing individual companies, the entire industry faces additional pressure. In January, there could be a final exclusion of crypto treasuries from MSCI's index universe ^[1]. This would affect both the major Bitcoin accumulators and ETH strategy firms like BitMine ^[1]. Additionally, these companies' stocks act as leverage on the respective cryptocurrency – in both directions ^[1].

The top 100 Bitcoin treasury companies together hold over 1 million BTC, and the number of public companies with Bitcoin holdings increased by 38 percent between July and September ^[2].