Tom Lee, co-founder of Fundstrat and head of Bitmine, known for his bullish pronouncements in the cryptocurrency markets, shared his personal career journey and offered noteworthy insights into Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other digital asset treasuries during a program he participated in.
Lee presented one of the most aggressive price frameworks to date for Ethereum. Noting that the historical ETH/BTC ratio has averaged around 0.08, Lee stated, “If someone thinks Bitcoin is going to $200,000, which I do, then Ethereum simply returning to its long-term average means an ETH price of $16,000.”
Lee, as a more advanced scenario, put forward the idea of Ethereum network value being equal to Bitcoin, suggesting that this could point to an ETH price of around $250,000. Recalling that the AI company OpenAI would likely have a valuation of $1 trillion if it were publicly traded, Lee stated, “OpenAI would be worth about three times Ethereum today. If Ethereum becomes the dominant infrastructure on the blockchain side, why not a valuation of several trillion dollars?” He argued that the current $3,000 ETH level is still attractive in terms of “future optionability.”
Lee also touched upon the sharp drop in October, describing the volatility on October 10th as a “glitch.” He explained that in one stablecoin, the automatic deleverage (ADL) mechanism was triggered due to “price opportunism” based on erroneous pricing on only one exchange, while the stablecoin maintained the $1 level on other platforms.
“If this pricing were composite, nobody would liquidate at that level; they would say, ‘this is a divergence, wait,’” Lee said, adding that the code’s automated operation transformed ADLs (Automated Liquidity Levels) that started on one exchange into a global liquidation cycle. Despite this, he said Bitcoin holding around $86,000–$92,000 and Ethereum around $3,100 formed a strong base, similar to the lows in the 2022 bear market.
Lee stated that Bitmine believes Ethereum has hit its bottom, adding, “We have doubled the amount of ETH we are buying compared to two weeks ago. We are standing behind our word.”
Speaking about Bitmine’s ETH position, Lee stated that the company holds approximately 3.7 million ETH, more Ethereum than all other DATs combined. “I don’t see a scenario where Bitmine will sell ETH in the long term. There’s no reason to sell when there are staking returns,” he reiterated, adding that the ETH in treasury is a “permanent” strategic asset.
Lee said, “If Bitcoin closes above $126,000 by January 31, that classic four-year cycle narrative will effectively end,” adding that investors will be able to see a clearer picture of the cycle debate in the next few weeks.
Tom Lee stated that according to the traditional four-year cycle logic, 2026 should be expected to be a “bad year” for Bitcoin, but he thinks the opposite.
“I think next year will be a great year for crypto because the story is no longer just about ‘digital gold,’ it’s about tokenization,” Lee said, adding that bringing real-world assets and financial instruments onto the blockchain will trigger a new wave of ownership, construction, and product development.
*This is not investment advice.
