Tom Lee, chairman of ether treasury agency BitMine Immersion (BMNR), urged shareholders to approve a board proposal for a pointy enhance within the firm’s licensed share depend.
In a start-of-the-year message, Lee mentioned the proposal to spice up the corporate’s variety of shares to 50 billion from 500 million shouldn’t be a precursor to a transfer to “dilute” shareholders.
“[This]t doesn’t imply we’re issuing 50 billion shares. That’s what we wish the overall max shares to be,” Lee mentioned.
Acknowledging {that a} increased share depend 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 line 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 12 months to make ETH its major treasury asset. If ether’s value rises through the years as he expects — as excessive as $250,000 if bitcoin reaches $1 million — splits will probably be essential to preserve shares “accessible” to the general public.
Lee framed the proposal inside a broader thesis that Ethereum will play a central position in Wall Road’s push towards tokenized monetary markets, pointing to public comments by BlackRock CEO Larry Fink about blockchain-based market infrastructure. Lee has individually mentioned 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.
