Shares rise 15% as ether extends gains
Bitmine raised $250 mln to add ether to balance sheet
Adds background in paragraphs 4 and 7; updates prices to market open
July 16 (Reuters) - Bitmine Immersion Technologies BMNR.A shares jumped nearly 15% in early trading on Wednesday after tech billionaire Peter Thiel disclosed a 9.1% stake in the crypto mining and services company.
Thiel has publicly praised bitcoin, a currency based on blockchain technology, and his Silicon Valley venture capital firm Founders Fund was among the early investors in the digital currency.
The stake, which would make the Palantir PLTR.O co-founder the biggest investor in Bitmine based on the latest data, was revealed in a regulatory filing after markets closed on Tuesday.
Bitmine shares were trading at $46.07, also boosted by bitcoin hovering near record highs and ether hitting a five-and-a-half month high. The stock has gained more than five-fold so far this year through last close, compared with the nearly 27% gain in bitcoin.
The company held about 154 bitcoins as of June 6 and 163,142 ether as ofJuly 14 on its balance sheet, collectively worth about $535.5 million at current prices.
In June, Bitmine announced a $250 million private placement to start an ethereum treasury strategy and said Fundstrat Global Advisors head of research, Thomas Lee, would serve on its board.
The $2 billion market value firm engages in proprietary bitcoin mining and provides hosting services for third-party digital asset mining equipment.
A few other small-cap companies such as SharpLink SBET.O, Bit Digital <BTBT.O> and BTCS <BTCS.O> have added ether to their corporate treasuries, mirroring MicroStrategy's MSTR.O high-profile bitcoin strategy.
Ether has doubled in value in the past three months amid growing institutional interest in the cryptocurrency.
(Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai and Sriraj Kalluvila)
((Medha.Singh@thomsonreuters.com; +91 80 6210 0592; X, formerly Twitter: @medhasinghs;))