Eightco Holdings (NASDAQ: ORBS) pulled off a real power play on Wall Street Thursday, with shares jumping roughly 25% after the company announced it had locked in $125 million in new institutional commitments from a lineup that includes Bitmine Immersion Technologies, Cathie Wood's ARK Invest, and Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken.

 

The raise was led by Bitmine, which committed $75 million, with ARK Invest pledging at least $25 million and Payward rounding out the headline trio with another $25 million of its own. The full investor roster behind ORBS reads like a who's who of the crypto world: Coinfund, Pantera Capital, GSR, FalconX, Discovery Capital Management, and the World Foundation are all listed as backers.

 

But the capital raise wasn't even the most eyebrow-raising piece of news in Thursday's announcement. Eightco simultaneously disclosed it had already closed initial strategic investments of $50 million into OpenAI and $25 million into MrBeast and Beast Industries. 

 

The OpenAI investment, worth approximately $52.5 million in economic interests in the company's equity, closed on March 6, just days before this announcement.

 

 

To understand how we got here, we kind of have to dive a bit deeper. Eightco has had one of the stranger corporate transformations of recent years. The Pennsylvania-based company pivoted from inventory management to cryptocurrencies and is currently developing a universal framework for digital identity and authentication. Not too long ago, its main business was making cardboard boxes through a subsidiary called Ferguson Containers.

 

Now, the company's identity is built around Worldcoin (WLD), the biometric-based digital identity project co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. As of March 5, 2026, Eightco's treasury holdings included 277,222,975 WLD tokens, 11,068 ETH, and $82 million in cash. That WLD position, the company says, represents nearly 10% of the token's circulating supply, making ORBS the largest public market holder of Worldcoin on any exchange.

 

The company continues to hold Worldcoin and Ethereum as a long-term believer in the world's second-most valuable cryptocurrency, and frames its Worldcoin stake as foundational to a "proof of humanity" authentication layer it's building out.

 

The vision, as ORBS tells it, is to combine Worldcoin's biometric identity infrastructure with OpenAI's foundational models to create something at the intersection of AI verification, blockchain rails, and mass consumer reach. And it seems that it's clearly a compelling enough pitch to draw in some serious institutional names.

Who's Backing It, and Why

Tom Lee, Chairman of Bitmine, is joining Eightco's Board of Directors, while Brett Winton, Chief Futurist at ARK Invest, will serve as an advisor to the board.

 

Lee's involvement through Bitmine is notable. Bitmine itself has been on an aggressive crypto treasury strategy of its own, positioning itself as the leading Ethereum treasury company in public markets. Bitmine has combined crypto, cash, and "moonshot" holdings ranging well into the billions, and adding Eightco to that ecosystem tightens the connection between the two companies considerably. Lee getting a board seat means this isn't a passive financial bet.

 

His take on the investment was direct. Bitmine sees Eightco sitting at the center of some of the most important future needs and developments in AI, with what Lee described as tremendous synergy between Proof of Human via Worldcoin, OpenAI's foundational models, and the reach of the world's biggest content creator in MrBeast.

 

ARK Invest's Cathie Wood weighed in too, describing ORBS as taking on a unique initiative at the intersection of AI, blockchain, and creator-driven platforms.

 

Kraken's Arjun Sethi was perhaps the most philosophical about the whole thing. The Payward co-CEO framed it around power-law dynamics, suggesting that a small number of platforms tend to capture a disproportionate share of value in technological revolutions, and that ORBS is trying to position itself at the convergence of AI, cryptographic infrastructure, and global digital distribution.

MrBeast and the Distribution Play

The $25 million bet on Beast Industries deserves its own look. On March 10, Eightco invested approximately $25 million in shares of Beast Industries, with $7 million of that amount structured as committed capital that may be funded within 60 days in exchange for additional stock.

 

Beast Industries is the broader enterprise behind YouTube megastar Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast. The company spans entertainment, consumer products, and CPG, with the snack brand Feastables among its faster-growing launches. MrBeast's YouTube channel has over 450 million subscribers and generates more than 5 billion monthly views across all channels.

 

For a blockchain infrastructure play trying to build out digital identity at scale, having a meaningful stake in the world's most-subscribed YouTube channel is an unusual but not entirely illogical move. Distribution is distribution, and Eightco seems to be betting that the future of human authentication online will require massive consumer reach to actually work.

 

Taken together, Eightco is making a bold argument that the convergence of AI identity verification, blockchain infrastructure, and mass consumer distribution represents a huge opportunity, and that a small public company out of Pennsylvania is somehow positioned to sit at the center of it.

 

Whether the OpenAI stake, the MrBeast bet, the Worldcoin treasury, and the Ethereum holdings actually compound into something concrete is still up in the air. The risk disclosures in ORBS's own SEC filings acknowledge this as well, flagging the company's lack of control over private companies where it holds minority stakes, and the ongoing challenges of maintaining Nasdaq listing compliance while burning cash.

 

But the investor lineup announced today isn't made up of amateurs. Pantera, Brevan Howard, Coinfund, and ARK all know what they're doing, and they all decided this particular combination of bets was worth backing.

 

Why Tom Lee Is Betting Big on Ethereum, and Why He Thinks the Best Is Still Ahead

When Tom Lee makes a bold call, people pay attention. He has built a reputation for spotting major market trends early, and now he is putting that conviction behind Ethereum in a very real way. His firm, BitMine Immersion Technologies, just picked up another 97,000 ETH, increasing its total holdings to 3.73 million tokens, worth about $10.5 Billion at latest prices. That is not a casual trade. It is a signal that Lee believes Ethereum is on the edge of something much bigger.

Instead of waiting for a hype cycle or chasing a rally, Lee is buying during a quieter period in the market. And based on his recent comments, there is a clear reason why. He sees a combination of catalysts lined up at the same time, and he believes they give Ethereum one of the strongest setups of any major asset heading into 2026.

 

BitMine’s ETH Strategy Is Not a Short Term Play

Lee has been gradually stacking ETH throughout the year, and the latest acquisition is simply the biggest chapter in that story. Multiple large purchases over several months paint a clear picture. This is not a speculative gamble or a quick swing trade. BitMine is positioning Ethereum as a long term strategic asset on its balance sheet.

It is the kind of move you normally see from companies preparing for a shift in market conditions, or from firms that believe a key technology is about to break out. In this case, Lee seems to believe both are true.

 

What Is Driving Tom Lee’s Confidence

Ethereum Looks More Like Financial Infrastructure Than a Crypto Coin

One point Lee keeps returning to is the idea that Ethereum is becoming the backbone of digital finance. Between stablecoins, DeFi platforms, real world asset tokenization and on chain identity systems, Ethereum has become much more than a place to speculate.

Lee’s view is simple. If financial markets continue moving toward tokenization, Ethereum stands to benefit more than almost any other chain. It has the developers, the users and the network effects that make growth not just possible, but likely.

The Macro Environment Could Create Fuel

Another major part of his thesis is tied to the Federal Reserve. Lee thinks the Fed may start cutting interest rates in the coming year. If that happens, liquidity usually returns to risk assets, and crypto tends to be one of the biggest beneficiaries.

In past easing cycles, assets with high growth potential often outperformed. Lee sees ETH in that category today, especially with everything happening on chain.

The Fusaka Upgrade Could Kick Off a New Phase

Ethereum’s next upgrade, called Fusaka, is coming soon. Lee views it as a serious quality of life improvement for the entire network. Cheaper data availability, more efficient rollups and improved scalability have the potential to bring even more activity into the ecosystem.

If applications become cheaper and faster to run, it opens the door for new waves of DeFi tools, enterprise systems and consumer apps. That kind of expansion is exactly the type of catalyst Lee likes to position around before the crowd catches on.

 

Why This Institutional Move Matters

Institutional buying during sideways markets has a different energy than buying during bull runs. It comes from research, planning and long horizon thinking, not excitement or fear of missing out.

Lee is not buying ETH on a whim. He is building what looks like a strategic treasury position, much like companies that accumulate energy reserves, metals or other foundational commodities. When firms treat ETH as infrastructure instead of speculation, it sends a message. It suggests they believe Ethereum is becoming a permanent part of the financial landscape.

And when a well known market voice makes a move like this, it often encourages others to re-evaluate their assumptions.

 

Of Course, There Are Still Risks

Lee is bullish, but he is not blind. He has acknowledged several things that could slow Ethereum down.

• The economy could stay tight if inflation refuses to cool

• Technical delays could undermine upgrades

• Regulation could shift unexpectedly

• Competing blockchains are not standing still

None of these risks are trivial. But Lee’s argument is that Ethereum has enough traction, developers and real world use cases to keep moving forward regardless.

 

Final Thoughts

Tom Lee’s purchase of 97,000 ETH is more than a headline. It is a statement. He believes Ethereum is undervalued, underappreciated and on the verge of a major turning point. Between the Fusaka upgrade, the potential for a friendlier macro environment and Ethereum’s expanding role in tokenized finance, his case is not hard to understand.

You do not accumulate this much ETH unless you think the future is brighter than the present. And Lee clearly does.

 

If he is right, Ethereum could be gearing up for one of its strongest chapters ever.

 

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