South Korean Investors Defy Logic: Still Backing BitMine After 82% Stock Plunge in 2025

While most stocks tanking over 80% would send investors sprinting for the exits, South Korea's crypto faithful are digging in their heels. BitMine's brutal 2025 hasn't shaken their conviction—it's become a badge of honor.
The Contrarian Playbook
Forget traditional valuation metrics. In Seoul's bustling Gangnam district and beyond, a different calculus is at work. The 82% drop isn't seen as a failure, but as a brutal stress test—one that, perversely, proves the underlying thesis for those who believe in digital asset infrastructure long-term. It's a high-stakes gamble that the company's core technology and market position will outlast a punishing cycle.
Beyond the Spreadsheet
This isn't blind faith. The commitment speaks to a deeper, almost ideological alignment with BitMine's role in the crypto ecosystem. Investors aren't just buying shares; they're backing a pillar of the industry they believe is fundamental. It's a bet on infrastructure, on the picks and shovels of the digital gold rush, even when the gold price is volatile.
The Final Tally
So, is this visionary patience or financial masochism? Only the next market cycle will tell. In the meantime, it stands as a stark reminder that in crypto, the old rules of finance often get rewritten—sometimes by investors willing to watch eight-tenths of their capital vanish and call it a strategy. A traditional analyst would need a stiff drink after reviewing that portfolio.
Retail investors double down on BitMine against all odds
After peaking in July, BitMine shares crashed abruptly the very next month. But South Korean retail investors, known locally as “ants,” kept buying.
As of December 29, they had invested a total of $1.4 billion in BitMine just this year alone, though they also funneled $566 million into T-Rex’s 2X Long BitMine Daily Target ETF, a product designed to mirror BitMine’s daily performance at double the speed.
That fund launched shortly after BitMine’s summer run and has since lost about 86% from its September peak. Even with that drop, the cash kept flowing. The appetite for volatility among South Korean traders appears nowhere NEAR cooling down.
BitMine holds $12B in Ether as token stalls
BitMine now holds around $12 billion worth of Ether, making it the largest listed entity focused on accumulating the token. This has positioned it as the top Ether treasury company, based on numbers from strategicethreserve.xyz.
The stock’s earlier rise helped fuel a temporary rally in Ether itself, which touched a new high of almost $5,000 in August. But since then, the momentum has dried up.
The price of Ether is down roughly 11% for the year. Despite the drop, BitMine has held its crypto stockpile strategy. Investors betting on a rebound have stuck with it, and South Korea’s traders haven’t blinked.
Even as other assets turned south, they stayed locked on BitMine, showing the same high-risk appetite that’s made them notorious in global financial circles.
South Korea’s investing culture remains extremely crypto-forward, especially among young traders, so altcoins, leverage, and fast gains have always pulled in attention.
Join Bybit now and claim a $50 bonus in minutes