BitMine / Ethereum Tower: separate agreement families, long-duration exit economics and a 2026 staking transition.
BitMine's public filings are a useful currentness test because several Ethereum Tower arrangements coexist in the record. The July 2025 ETH Treasury Consulting Agreement, the July 2025 Strategic Advisor Agreement and the March 2026 staking Management Services Agreement are distinct contracts with different economics and termination mechanics.
1. July 2025 ETH Treasury Consulting Agreement
BitMine entered into a Consulting Agreement with Ethereum Tower LLC in July 2025 for a defined ETH Treasury Strategy. The filed agreement gives the consultant authority to select and engage operational partners for trading, staking, decentralized-finance and other treasury activities, while treasury assets remain with designated custodians.
| Field | Publicly disclosed term |
|---|---|
| Provider | Ethereum Tower LLC |
| Term | 10 years, with additional periods by mutual written agreement |
| Client termination gate in filed agreement | More than 70% shareholder resolution plus unanimous Board approval |
| Early-termination economics | If terminated during the term for any reason other than termination by the consultant, the agreement states 85% of the fees and other compensation that would have accrued through the end of the term |
| Consultant termination | The consultant may terminate for any reason at any time |
| Fee source | The agreement refers to Schedule C; later periodic filings describe a tiered annual consulting fee and documented expenses |
The issuer's later filings describe the recurring fee schedule
BitMine's 2025 Form 10-K and 2026 Forms 10-Q describe the consulting fee as 1.00% per year on managed digital assets up to $1 million, 0.50% from $1 million to $5 million and 0.25% above $5 million. Those filings also describe the agreement as ten years, renewable and non-cancelable except under limited circumstances, with the 85% remaining-fee provision for a company termination without cause.
The searchable HTML of the original filed agreement references Schedule C but does not display the fee table itself. For a decision-grade currentness review, the executed agreement, later periodic disclosures and any amendments should therefore remain separate source layers rather than being silently collapsed.
2. July 2025 Strategic Advisor Agreement
BitMine separately engaged Ethereum Tower Instant LLC as a strategic advisor. This was not the same agreement as the ETH Treasury Consulting Agreement. The filed Strategic Advisor Agreement had a six-month initial term, could be extended by mutual written agreement, and allowed either party to terminate on 90 days' prior written notice or for cause.
Compensation was warrant-based: the agreement specified warrants equal to 5% of BitMine's fully diluted common shares as of July 8, 2025. Subsequent SEC filings describe warrants to purchase up to 3,192,620 shares at a $5.40 exercise price.
3. March 2026 staking Management Services Agreement
A third contract family appeared in March 2026. BMNR Subsidiary One LLC entered into a Management Services Agreement with Ethereum Tower for strategic planning and operational management of Ethereum staking operations. Public filings described a ten-year initial term and revenue-participation economics tied to staking operations.
September 2026: the staking MSA was mutually terminated and replaced
On September 4, 2026, BitMine disclosed a mutual termination of the March 2026 MSA, effective at the close of business on September 3. The parties waived the 180-day notice requirement, accrued unpaid amounts remained payable, and BitMine stated that it did not incur any material early-termination penalties.
At the same time, the company subsidiary entered into a new services agreement with American Validator LLC, an affiliate of Ethereum Tower, effective September 4, 2026. The new agreement uses a simplified fee equal to 1.50% of staking rewards on company-staked Ethereum.
Why this case matters for DAT provider benchmarking
BitMine illustrates three recurring diligence problems. First, one provider group can sit across multiple contracts with different roles. Second, headline recurring fees do not capture long-duration termination mechanics or equity-linked strategic-advisor compensation. Third, a fresh termination filing can be misread if the underlying agreement family is not identified precisely.
Primary public sources
July 2025 Ethereum Tower Consulting Agreement — SEC exhibit
July 2025 Strategic Advisor Agreement — SEC exhibit
BitMine 2025 Form 10-K
BitMine Form 10-Q for May 31, 2026
September 2026 Form 8-K — staking MSA termination and successor fee
Related research
Digital asset treasury management agreements →
DAT provider fees →
DAT provider exit economics →
Observed provider outcomes →
Digital asset treasury companies →
Public-source factual commercial research only. No legal interpretation of enforceability, no fairness or fiduciary conclusion, no accounting or investment opinion, and no recommendation concerning any provider or agreement.