The little-known Bitcoin miner turned Ethereum treasury known as BitMine is turning the corporate crypto treasury playbook on its head.

On Tuesday, the publicly traded Ethereum treasury firm announced a $1 billion repurchase authorisation for a stock buyback plan.

At first glance, it looked like a vote of confidence in the company’s long-term value. But for Ethereum bulls, it may be a red flag.

“Seems like they’re going to use some of their $400 million excess cash to buy their shares instead of ETH,” Ceteris, the pseudonymous head of research at Delphi Digital, said on X.

It’s a “pretty bad development,” he said. “People buying their stock want them to keep plowing their cash into ETH. This halts the momentum.”

Mega trend

BitMine has become one of the biggest corporate buyers of Ether in 2025. It has amassed over $2 billion worth of Ether in just two weeks, helping fuel a rally in both the cryptocurrency and its own stock price.

The approach mirrors the Michael Saylor-style Bitcoin treasury strategy: raise cash, buy crypto, drive shareholder value through appreciation.

Only now, it’s Ethereum, not Bitcoin, taking center stage.

But with BitMine’s stock trading at a 35% premium to the value of its Ether holdings, the decision to pursue a buyback suggests a major shift. Instead of accumulating even more Ether, the company might use its cash to buy shares.

That’s a sharp break from the usual treasury playbook — one that’s rattling investors who bought in for exposure to Ethereum, not equity games.

A buyback authorisation is board-level approval to buy back shares up to a certain amount, though it doesn’t guarantee that will happen.

Buyback authorisations give companies the option, but not the obligation, to repurchase shares if management believes they’re undervalued. The goal is usually to defend the stock when it trades below the net asset value of its holdings.

BitMine Immersion Technologies did not immediately respond to DL News’ request for comment.

The treasury arbitrage model

The calculation behind crypto treasury schemes is simple.

If a company’s stock trades above the value of its crypto holdings — known as its net asset value or NAV — it can issue new shares to buy more crypto, effectively growing its per-share holdings.

But if it trades below NAV, the company might instead buy back stock to shrink the float and boost per-share value.

BitMine isn’t trading below NAV, however.

In fact, it’s trading at a significant premium, in line with Bitcoin giant MicroStrategy and ahead of Ethereum peer SharpLink Gaming.

Why even float a buyback now?

“Usual flow here is: mNAV premium = sell shares, accumulate treasury asset. mNAV discount = sell treasury asset, buy shares,” said Ceteris on X.

“BMNR is trading at a premium, so…?”

Buyer beware

This may be more of a precautionary filing than a real-time strategy shift.

“This does not mean: ‘We plan to buy back $1 billion worth of shares,’” Viktor, the pseudonymous researcher known as thedefivillain, said on X.

“It most likely means: ‘We now theoretically have the RIGHT to buy back up to $1 billion worth of shares. But this is something we will do only if we trade at a large discount to NAV — which is not our goal, ideally.’”

So far, BitMine hasn’t said when or how it would execute a buyback.

But the message is out there — and it’s a marked shift from the aggressive accumulation strategy that cryptocurrency investors have come to expect from corporate treasury companies.

Pedro Solimano is DL News’ Buenos Aires-based markets correspondent. Got at a tip? Email him at psolimano@dlnews.com.