Tom Lee, Chairman of Ethereum Finance company BitMine Immersion (BMNR) is urging shareholders to approve the board of directors’ proposal to significantly increase the number of authorized shares in the company.
In his speech at the beginning of the year, Lee Jae-yong said that the proposal to increase the number of company shares from 500 million shares to 50 billion shares was not a harbinger of “dilution” to shareholders.
“[This]That doesn’t mean we’re going to issue 50 billion shares. That’s the maximum total number of shares we want,” Lee said.
Lee admitted that a higher share count does make it easier for the company to raise capital, reminding that it also allows BitMine to pursue opportunistic deals and, most importantly, according to Lee, accommodate future share splits.
Lee believes that BitMine’s share price has increasingly tracked Ethereum since the company switched to ETH as its primary financial asset last year. If the price of ether rises as he expects over the years – as high as $250,000 if Bitcoin hits $1 million – then a stock split will be needed to keep the stock “accessible” to the public.
Lee made the proposal within a broader argument that Ethereum will play a central role in Wall Street’s push for tokenized financial markets, pointing to BlackRock CEO Larry Fink’s public comments about blockchain-based market infrastructure. Lee has separately stated that he personally has been accumulating Ethereum, aligning his macro views with BitMine’s financial strategy.
Lee reminded shareholders that they have until January 14 to vote on the proposal, with BitMine’s annual shareholder meeting scheduled to be held in Las Vegas on January 15.