Tom Lee: Ethereum has hit bottom

By: Logan Hitchcock

Translation: Saoirse, Foresight News

Tom Lee, Chairman of BitMine. Image source: André Beganski/Decrypt

Key Takeaways:

• Tom Lee, Chairman of BitMine, believes Ethereum has already bottomed out this year.

• Lee’s company, the world’s largest Ethereum treasury firm, last week purchased $460 million worth of Ethereum, putting its money behind the conviction.

• Lee says Ethereum still has strong potential by year-end and that over the next 10 to 15 years, he sees more upside in Ethereum than Bitcoin.

Tom Lee believes that after the second-largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum, recently dropped below the $3,000 mark, its price has now bottomed.

The chairman of BitMine Immersion Technologies—also chief investment officer at Fundstrat—said the Ethereum treasury firm is proving its stance through action, significantly increasing its Ethereum holdings at current levels.

"BitMine believes Ethereum’s price has bottomed," Lee said in a video interview with Farokh Sarmad, president of Dastan, Decrypt’s parent company. "We’re buying more than twice as much Ethereum now compared to two weeks ago."

The Ethereum treasury firm has recently significantly increased its holdings — purchasing 138,452 ETH last week, worth approximately $460 million.

This is BitMine’s largest purchase since it acquired over 200,000 ETH in October, and the company aims to hold 5% of Ethereum’s circulating supply.

As of Wednesday, BitMine holds approximately 3.864 million ETH, representing 3.2% of Ethereum’s circulating supply, valued at $12.85 billion. The company is currently the largest publicly listed corporate holder of Ethereum and ranks second among all crypto treasury firms—behind only Strategy, which holds over $61 billion in Bitcoin.

In addition, BitMine holds 193 bitcoins (worth about $18 million) and $1 billion in cash.

Although both Bitcoin and Ethereum are trading below their all-time highs, Ethereum has led the recent rebound: up about 8% over the past seven days, currently trading at $3,376; while Bitcoin has been largely flat over the past week, recently trading at $92,248.

The BitMine executive (BitMine trades under the ticker BMNR) said he expects significant volatility in both assets before year-end.

Previously, Lee predicted Bitcoin could reach as high as $150,000 by the end of 2025; however, given Bitcoin remained below $100,000 during the final week of November, his outlook softened, saying it “might” still achieve that level.

Regardless, Lee and BitMine are more bullish on Ethereum’s prospects over the next 10 to 15 years—especially as Wall Street embraces this Layer-1 blockchain network and recognizes its future role in finance.

"Our bullish case for Ethereum lies in Wall Street choosing its blockchain for future development," Lee said. "This trend began with stablecoins—a key 'aha moment' for Wall Street... but stablecoins merely tokenize the dollar. Now, Wall Street wants to tokenize all assets, and they won’t do it on Bitcoin—they need a smart contract platform."

This view aligns with statements from executives at global investment giant BlackRock, Larry Fink and Rob Goldstein, who last week called tokenization "the next major evolution in market infrastructure."

Ethereum leads in this trend: according to data from RWA.xyz, Ethereum hosts $12.1 billion in tokenized real-world assets (RWA), accounting for nearly 66% of the total distributed asset share.