Tom Lee's Bitmine may be buying ETH, but Vitalik Buterin and everyone else appears to be selling

Markets Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Tom Lee's Bitmine may be buying ETH, but Vitalik Buterin and everyone else appears to be selling Ether has dropped below $2,000, underperforming other major cryptocurrencies as selling accelerates from leveraged traders, onchain liquidations and long-term holders. By Oliver Knight | Edited by Stephen Alpher Feb 5, 2026, 4:15 p.m. Make us preferred on Google Bitmine chairman Tom Lee (Modified by CoinDesk) What to know : Onchain data shows tens of thousands of ETH sold in recent days to repay Aave loans, creating a feedback loop where falling prices trigger more selling to avoid liquidation. As the crypto market’s primary collateral and leverage asset, ether is often sold first when traders unwind positions, amplifying downside moves compared with BTC and other large caps. Corporate ETH holders, once seen as a new class of long-term buyers, are now sitting on large unrealized losses, turning what was expected to be a floor into a potential overhang. Ether ETH $ 2,113.11 has been catching flak from all angles of late, plunging below $2,000, with sell pressure emanating from every angle of the market, including Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin and derivatives traders alike. The second-largest cryptocurrency is currently trading around $1,950, down 60% since August and 42% since Jan. 14. STORY CONTINUES BELOW Don't miss another story. Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today . See all newsletters Sign me up By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms & conditions and privacy policy . Its plight can in part be attributed to what analysts are calling the latest crypto bear market , but ETH itself has underperformed other large caps like BTC, XRP and ADA, which are down closer to 35% since mid-January. The divergence from its peers was helped along by a wave of sales from Vitalik Buterin, and, more recently, by derivatives traders. Onchain analysts have pointed to an entity offloading large amounts of ETH on decentralized derivatives venues in order to repay loans on Aave. The wallets involved have sold roughly 47,000 ETH ($120 million) over the past four days, including around 31,700 ETH in just a five-hour stretch, according to data shared by MLm onchain. They still have nearly 50,000 ETH sitting as collateral on Aave, with about $86 million in USDC borrowed against it. With ETH sliding, the position is now hovering close to liquidation, forcing more selling to stay above water. It’s the kind of feedback loop ether holders have seen before: price drops, collateral weakens, debt gets repaid, more ETH hits the market. ETH is falling harder than the rest Part of ether’s particularly steep drop is that it remains the go-to asset for leverage in crypto, which means when traders are forced to unwind, ETH is often what gets sold first. But it also reflects a market that’s struggling to find a reason to buy right now. Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci believes ETH is struggling due to institutional investors' bias toward bitcoin. “I think what happens when institutions come in, they're probably going to buy the oldest asset,” Scaramucci said in an interview with OANDA . “And so it's Bitcoin. Now, are you going to say, could they potentially buy Ethereum? I would say yes….But I would say generally institutions are going to favor something like Bitcoin. And that's not to say that it won't spread out in the ensuing years, but that's where things are right now.” There is also a corner of the market that attempts delta-neutral trades, buying spot ETH and lending it out on platforms like Aave, while simultaneously shorting the asset on futures. These traders have no directional exposure, but may need to increase their short position if funding rates skew, which could drive more sell pressure. Treasury buyers are feeling it too One of the more optimistic developments for ether over the past year was the rise of so-called ETH treasury companies — firms that buy and hold ETH in a MicroStrategy-style bet. The idea was that corporates would provide a new class of long-term buyer, helping soak up supply and putting a floor under the market. That hasn’t really happened. With ETH now down more than 50% since August, many of these companies are sitting on losses, having accumulated at prices that looked reasonable at the time but painful in hindsight. Tom Lee’s BitMine (BMNR) is the best-known examples. Lee has been a consistent ether bull, and BitMine’s ETH position has been pitched as strategic rather than speculative. BitMine currently holds 4.29 million ETH tokens, worth $9 billion, with 57% staked to earn a yield. Dropstab data shows that a total of $16.3 billion has been invested, creating an unrealized loss of $7.3 billion. The company even bought the dip earlier this month, buying $100 million of ETH at $2,300, but the purchase failed to stem the steady flow of sell pressure, as ETH subsequently tumbled below $2,000. But it’s hard to play the role of “strong hands” when the asset keeps sliding, and everyone else is selling into the weakness. Instead of acting as support, these treasury holdings are starting to look like another overhang — not because they’re dumping today, but because the market knows they’re trapped. No obvious buyer Ether’s problem right now isn’t a single wallet or a single liquidation. It’s that sell pressure is coming from everywhere: founders trimming exposure, leveraged traders unwinding, underwater holders looking for exits. Ethereum is still the dominant smart contract platform. None of that has changed. But in this market, ETH isn’t trading on fundamentals. It’s trading like an asset nobody wants to catch. Except, apparently, Tom Lee. Ether Price Ethereum Futures Bitmine Vitalik Buterin In this article ETH ETH $ 2,113.11 ◢ 6.45 %