Peter Thiel acquires 9.1% Stake in Bitmine to become largest shareholder; stock surges 15% amid crypto boom

Peter Thiel is betting big on crypto again—and this time, it’s with a public stake.

Shares of Bitmine Immersion Technologies jumped nearly 15% in early trading Wednesday after Thiel disclosed a 9.1% stake in the crypto mining company. The move makes the billionaire investor Bitmine’s largest shareholder, based on the latest filings.

Thiel, who co-founded PayPal and Palantir, has long been vocal about his support for bitcoin. His venture capital firm, Founders Fund, was one of the earliest institutional backers of the digital currency. That track record adds weight to his latest investment and immediately sparked investor interest.

The filing, submitted after markets closed Tuesday, helped fuel Bitmine’s rally, which was already getting a lift from a broader crypto upswing, Reuters reported. Meanwhile, Bitcoin is hovering near record highs, and Ether just hit a five-and-a-half-month peak. As of Wednesday morning, Bitmine was trading at $46.07. The stock has already climbed more than fivefold this year—far outpacing bitcoin’s 27% gain over the same period.

Bitmine isn’t just riding the crypto wave. The company holds a sizable stash of digital assets, including 154 bitcoins (as of June 6) and over 163,000 ether (as of July 14), together worth around $535.5 million at current prices. It’s one of a small but growing group of companies—like Bit Digital, SharpLink, and BTCS—adding ether to their corporate treasuries, echoing the strategy pioneered by MicroStrategy.

Back in June, Bitmine raised $250 million in a private placement to kick off its new Ethereum treasury strategy. The company also brought on Fundstrat’s Thomas Lee to serve on its board, signaling a deeper push into the crypto space.

With a $2 billion market cap, Bitmine runs its own bitcoin mining operation and provides hosting services for third-party digital asset mining hardware. Thiel’s move adds another layer of momentum to a stock that’s already been heating up—and with crypto back in the headlines, Bitmine just got a powerful new backer.