Building on its first staking deposit of 74,880 ETH on December 27, BitMine Immersion Technologies has added over 342,000 ETH to Ethereum's staking queue in the past 48 hours, accounting for nearly half the entry backlog and creating a six-month high amid U.S. regulatory clarifications boosting institutional participation. The corporate treasury leader now holds 4.11 million ETH, signaling aggressive accumulation despite market caution.
Ethereum's proof-of-stake network faces its longest entry queue in six months, with 734,299 ETH waiting to activate—implying a two-week delay—versus 343,179 ETH in the exit queue (six-day wait), per Ethereum Validator Queue data. Nearly half the entry backlog, 342,560 ETH, comes from BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) over the past 48 hours, following its initial deposit of 74,880 ETH on December 27.
BitMine's holdings reached 4,110,525 ETH (3.41% of ~120.7 million ETH supply) as of December 28, up from 4,066,062 ETH on December 27. The firm added over 44,000 ETH last week and has now staked 408,627 ETH (~$1.2 billion) via three providers, with plans for its Made in America Validator Network in early 2026. Chairman Thomas Lee emphasized, "We continue to be the largest 'fresh money' buyer of ETH in the world," citing year-end tax-loss selling from December 26-30. Total assets exceed $13.2 billion, including 192 BTC, a $23 million Eightco stake, and $1 billion cash.
This escalation aligns with U.S. regulatory tailwinds: the SEC ruled liquid staking tokens non-securities absent managerial effort, while November's IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-31 offers tax safe harbors for staking ETPs. Grayscale expects staking-enabled products to dominate passive investments, with BlackRock's ETHB and Grayscale's ETHE advancing. Network factors include the Pectra upgrade (raising validator minimums to 2,048 ETH), a Kiln incident prompting unstaking, and stabilized DeFi deposits (~36 million ETH). Platform's Nezhda Aliyeva noted, “Institutional staking is moving from experiment to expectation—segregated, secure, compliant.” At 2.81% APY, staking BitMine's full holdings could yield $374 million annually.
