BitMine lost $8 billion on ETH but Tom Lee still made tens of millions

Shares of BitMine Immersion Technologies, trailing 12 months. Source: TradingViewTens of millions for Tom Lee

Five months after those strategic advisor warrants, BitMine asked stockholders to approve a new package for Lee, who had assumed the chairman role.

Despite BitMines common stock languishing 79% below its 52-week high at the time, a majority of voting power agreed on January 15, 2026.

The package was worth up to $95 million in cash over five years. BitMine paid $15 million upfront and committed to $20 million more in fixed payments over four years. The remaining $60 million unlocks only if BitMine hits annual revenue hurdles.

Targets escalate from $200 million in fiscal 2027 to $500 million in fiscal 2030. In addition to the cash, Lee received 1.5 million time-vesting restricted stock units and 4.5 million performance units.

Performance units vest at $125 and $250 share price targets.

Curiously, BitMine‘s board justified the lavish deal by calling Lee a uniquely qualified leader. In actual fact, the company’s ETH treasury was already underwater by more than $4 billion at the time of the January vote, and losses have doubled since then.

Compensation for me, dilution for thee

BitMines common stock has lost 30% of its value year-to-date, and 88% since its 52-week high.

The companys quarterly filing acknowledged the likelihood of a poor stock price, “a 20% ETH correction can result in 50% equity drawdowns due to leverage and collapsing premiums.”

Surpassing that warning by more than double, ETH has already declined 42% from BitMines average purchase price.

Funding BitMines purchases of ETH requires an extraordinary pace of shareholder dilution. While shareholders burden losses, Lee and his leadership receive their compensation regardless.

BitMines at-the-market dilutive offerings of its common stock through Cantor Fitzgerald and ThinkEquity are authorized up to $24.5 billion. Through February 2026, those agents had already diluted shareholders by an addition 253 million shares for $10 billion in net proceeds, collecting $122.3 million in commissions.

Protos has previously documented how BitMines paper losses on ETH now exceed the customer losses at FTX. That terrible figure has remained true.