BitMine Immersion Technologies chairman Tom Lee has called on shareholders to back a proposal that would raise the company’s authorized shares from 500 million to 50 billion, arguing the change is necessary to execute an aggressive Ethereum-centred strategy.
Management framed the charter amendment as a practical step to equip BitMine with multiple financing options. According to the chairman’s message, the additional authorization would permit at-the-market offerings, issuance of convertibles and warrants, and ease the mechanics of mergers and acquisitions — tools the company wants available as it scales its Ethereum holdings.
BitMine also links the proposal to the possibility of future stock splits. Management argues that, should ETH appreciate materially and push the share price higher, splits will help keep single-share prices accessible to retail investors and broaden market participation.
The request comes as BitMine has concentrated a significant portion of its treasury in ETH, a bet management says requires expanded financing tools to support growth and market access. The vote is set for 14 january, management says the larger pool of shares will provide the flexibility to raise capital, pursue deals and enable future stock splits.
Opposition, dilution risk and investor response
Not all shareholders are persuaded. The core criticism is straightforward: a jump to 50 billion authorized shares creates a real potential for dilution if the company issues large volumes of stock or equity-linked securities. That risk is amplified by BitMine’s concentrated exposure to a single digital asset — Ethereum — which ties the company’s equity performance closely to ETH price swings.
Tom Lee and management have positioned the proposal as enabling tools rather than an immediate plan to issue shares at scale. Institutional names are cited as generally supportive of BitMine’s accumulation strategy, but the final decision rests with retail and institutional shareholders when they cast ballots.
Investors are now turning their attention to the vote, which will serve as the ultimate test for whether shareholders accept management’s trade-off: widened strategic flexibility in exchange for the latent dilution risk embedded in a drastically larger share authorization.
