(Reuters) -Shares of Bitmine Immersion Technologies jumped in premarket trading on Wednesday after tech billionaire Peter Thiel disclosed a 9.1% stake in the crypto mining and services company.

Palantir co-founder Thiel has publicly praised bitcoin, a currency based on blockchain technology, and his Silicon Valley venture capital firm Founders Fund was among the earlier investors in crypto.

Thiel's stake was revealed in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission 13D filing after markets closed on Tuesday.

Shares rose 20.5% to $48.12 in heavy volumes.

The stock received a boost in early June after it announced a $250 million private placement to initiate ethereum treasury strategy and said Fundstrat Global Advisors head of research, Thomas Lee, would serve on its board.

The $2 billion market value firm engages in proprietary bitcoin mining and provides hosting services for third-party digital asset mining equipment.