“It looks like they’ll spend cash on stock buybacks instead of ETH,” wrote analyst Ceteris on X, commenting on BitMine’s $1 billion buyback authorization. “It’s a pretty bad sign. Investors want them to keep buying ETH. This halts momentum.”

BitMine, once a little-known Bitcoin miner, became one of the main corporate forces scooping up Ethereum in 2025 — over $2 billion in just two weeks. But the decision to support the stock instead of increasing ETH holdings could mark a shift away from the MicroStrategy-style strategy inspired by Michael Saylor.

As another analyst known as thedefivillain noted: “This doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll actually buy back shares. It’s more of a legal right — in case shares trade below asset value. But right now, that’s not the case.”

Still, the market got the message: BitMine may pause Ethereum purchases — and that’s not what crypto bulls were hoping for.