Ethereum Has Bottomed, Says BitMine Chairman Tom Lee—Here's Why
TL;DR
BitMine Chairman Tom Lee believes Ethereum has bottomed after its recent price drop, citing the firm's massive $460 million ETH purchase as evidence. He highlights Wall Street's growing adoption of Ethereum for tokenization as a key driver for its long-term potential.
Key Takeaways
- •Tom Lee asserts Ethereum has reached its bottom, supported by BitMine's aggressive buying of over 138,452 ETH worth $460 million.
- •BitMine aims to acquire 5% of Ethereum's circulating supply, currently holding 3.864 million ETH (3.2%), making it the largest publicly traded Ethereum treasury.
- •Ethereum's rebound of about 8% in the last week contrasts with Bitcoin's stagnant performance, with Lee predicting significant moves for both assets by year-end.
- •Wall Street's increasing use of Ethereum for tokenizing assets, beyond stablecoins, is seen as a major catalyst for its future growth and adoption.
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Tom Lee thinks Ethereum has found its bottom, after the second-largest cryptocurrency recently plunged below the $3,000 mark.
The BitMine Immersion Technologies chairman—also the chief investment officer at Fundstrat—said the Ethereum treasury firm has been “putting its money where its mouth is” of late, adding heavily to its balance sheet at Ethereum’s current prices.
“BitMine believes Ethereum has already bottomed,” said Lee during a video interview with Farokh Sarmad, president of Dastan, Decrypt’s parent company. “Compared to two weeks ago, the amount of Ethereum we’re buying is more than double.”
The Ethereum treasury firm has massively added to its position of late, acquiring more than 138,452 ETH last week, or about $460 million worth of the prominent crypto asset.
That marks BitMine’s largest purchase since it added more than 200,000 ETH in October—all part of its stated quest to acquire 5% of the circulating Ethereum supply.
As of Wednesday, the firm holds around 3.864 million ETH, or about 3.2% of the circulating Ethereum supply, a haul that makes it the largest publicly traded Ethereum treasury and the second-largest crypto treasury of all with $12.85 billion worth of ETH. In terms of all crypto treasuries, BitMine trails only Bitcoin behemoth Strategy, which holds more than $61 billion worth of BTC.
BitMine also holds 193 Bitcoin valued around $18 million, and $1 billion in cash.
While both assets have fallen from all-time highs, Ethereum is leading the recent rebound, jumping about 8% in the last seven days to change hands at $3,376. Bitcoin, on the other hand, is roughly even over the last week, recently trading at $92,248.
The BMNR frontman said he thinks both assets could have big moves before year’s end.
Previously Lee had predicted as high as $150,000 for BTC before the end of 2025, though he softened his stance in the final week of November as BTC continued to trade below $100,000, adding that it could “maybe” still reach the $150,000 mark.
Regardless, Lee and BitMine are more excited about Ethereum’s future over the next 10-15 years, particularly as Wall Street has embraced the layer-1 network and its place in the future of finance.
“The reason to be excited about Ethereum is Wall Street is choosing to use the blockchain for the future,” said Lee. “It started with stablecoins, and it was a big ‘aha’ moment for Wall Street… but that’s just tokenizing a dollar. Now Wall Street wants to tokenize everything, and they’re not going to build it on Bitcoin—they need a smart contract platform.”
That mirrors the narrative being shared by Larry Fink and Rob Goldstein, executives from global investment firm BlackRock, who said last week that tokenization is “the next major evolution in market infrastructure.”
Ethereum is at the forefront of that trend, home to $12.1 billion in tokenized real world assets or nearly 66% of the distributed asset share, according to data from RWA.xyz.