Key points:
Ether gains nearly 6% on the day as BitMine ups its ETH accumulation plans to nearly $25 billion.
Chairman Tom Lee gets Michael Saylor comparisons as analysis says ETH price action is “defying gravity.”
Bitcoin continues to range below $120,000, shrugging off cool US CPI data.
Ether (ETH) neared $4,500 Tuesday as major corporate buying plans gave the largest altcoin another major boost.
Ether price comes within $500 of all-time highs
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed ETH/USD reaching $4,457 on Bitstamp — its highest since December 2021.
Now under $500 from all-time highs, the pair crushed resistance after blockchain technology firm BitMine Immersion Technologies announced plans to raise up to $20 billion for ETH purchases.
The move, which supplements the firm’s existing offering, allows for total ETH holdings worth $24.5 billion. The day prior, BitMine disclosed $4.96 billion in ETH.
A Tuesday filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) confirms:
“With this Prospectus Supplement, we are increasing the total amount of Common Stock that may be sold under the Sales Agreement to up to $24.5 billion, comprising of up to $2.0 billion under the Prospectus, $2.5 billion under the Prior Prospectus Supplement, and an additional $20.0 billion under this Prospectus Supplement.”
BitMine stock was up 5.6% on the day at the time of writing, with ETH/USD gaining a similar amount.
Market participants were unsurprisingly bullish on the outlook for ETH price strength.
“$ETH has surged more than 100% in less than two months,” crypto trader, analyst and entrepreneur Michaël van de Poppe noted in a post on X.
“This move is comparable to the $BTC ETF launch, when Bitcoin continued to rally upwards. We'll likely see a new ATH for $ETH and then some consolidation. There's way more to come for this cycle.”
Crypto investor and entrepreneur Ted Pillows likened BitMine chairman Tom Lee to Strategy CEO Michael Saylor, who oversaw the accumulation of the largest Bitcoin (BTC) corporate treasury.
We finally got our $ETH Michael Saylor.
— Ted (@TedPillows) August 12, 2025
Bitmine wants to buy $20,000,000,000 Ethereum.
Lets gooooooo 🔥 pic.twitter.com/5XHJdnyNqf
“$ETH is defying gravity,” Keith Alan, co-founder of crypto trading platform Material Indicators, continued.
Alan said an opportunity to buy the dip at the 21-day simple moving average (SMA), currently at $3,822, would be a “gift.”
Earlier, Cointelegraph reported that ETH price targets now include $20,000 per coin.
Not all doom and gloom for Bitcoin
Bitcoin meanwhile continued to range after a failed attempt to crack all-time highs the day prior.
Related: Bitcoin gets $95K target as ‘ugly’ BTC price candle spoils breakout
Positive macro news in the form of the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) failed to boost momentum, with altcoins taking the spotlight.
The July CPI print came in 0.1% below expectations, lending weight to the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates at its next meeting in September — a key crypto and risk-asset tailwind.
Commenting on market structure, however, popular trader and analyst Rekt Capital had reason for optimism.
BTC/USD, he revealed, was still attempting to form fresh support after breaking through a multiweek downtrend.
“And if price can continue to maintain stability here (perhaps even in the form of a Bull Flag), price could attempt another revisit of the Range High above (blue),” he concluded alongside a print of the daily chart.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.