South Korean Retail Sells Tesla, Buys Into Bitcoin Miner Holding $3.6 Billion in ETH
South Korea’s massive army of retail investors is dumping Tesla stock and rotating that capital directly into crypto.
shows a record $657 million sell-off of Tesla shares by Korean investors, with a huge portion of that cash flowing into an aggressive, Ethereum-focused mining company, BitMine Immersion Technologies.
Despite once being among Tesla’s most loyal investor groups, South Korean traders are now reallocating capital into alternative markets. Tesla still remains the top foreign stock held by the group, with approximately $21.9 billion in holdings. Nvidia and Palantir Technologies followed as distant second and third choices.
The leveraged exchange-traded fund TSLL, which offers double exposure to Tesla, also recorded its highest monthly withdrawal since early 2024. Investors pulled $554 million from the product in August, further displaying a decline in the stock.
The clear winner of this capital rotation is BitMine Immersion Technologies, an Ether-focused firm that has been aggressively accumulating ETH.
The Ether-focused firm attracted $253 million of net inflows from South Korean traders in August alone. Since July, total inflows reached $259 million, making BitMine the most purchased overseas security in the country during that period.
Driven by these inflows, BitMine has its Ether holdings by 410.68% over the last 30 days, bringing the total to 833,100 ETH.
At the current Ethereum’s price of , the stash is valued near $3.6 billion, up 24% compared with the previous session. This accumulation has positioned BitMine as the largest single Ether-holding company globally.
Ethereum’s growing adoption has gained support from industry leaders, but concerns about financial risks remain.
Speaking on the , Buterin endorsed companies building ETH treasuries but warned against the use of excessive leverage.
Buterin noted that an overleveraged market could lead to ongoing liquidations if Ether prices declined. He described such a chain reaction as a possible risk to Ethereum’s long-term stability. However, he expressed confidence that most treasury participants were avoiding such practices.
