Ethereum

SharpLink Gaming

when

Narrative

Tom Lee

<ul>
 <li>Tom Lee compares Ethereum to Wall Street’s 1971 turning point, arguing ETH is at the center of a historic financial shift.</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
 <li>BitMine has become the world’s largest ETH treasury firm with over 1.87M ETH, using a “flywheel” model to grow ETH per share.</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
 <li>Lee projects ETH could reach $60,000 long term, based on settlement network value and on-chain revenue models, while stressing it is a decade-scale forecast.</li>
</ul>
<h2 class="p1" id="from-wall-street-strategist-to-ethereum-whale-the-bitmine-story">FROM WALL STREET STRATEGIST TO ETHEREUM WHALE: THE BITMINE STORY</h2>
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Tom Lee, co-founder of Fundstrat and former chief equity strategist at JPMorgan, has always been known for bold calls. In 2017, when Bitcoin was just above $1,000, he published a paper suggesting BTC could reach $25,000 if it replaced only 5% of gold’s market share. By 2022, Bitcoin indeed traded near that level. But he was also mocked for being too optimistic, like when he predicted Bitcoin could climb to $200,000 during the 2021 bull run.
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In 2025, Lee made a bigger move. He became chairman of BitMine (BMNR), a Nasdaq-listed company that pivoted from Bitcoin mining to an Ethereum treasury firm. Within months, BitMine accumulated over 1.87 million ETH, worth about $8.1 billion, more than eight times the holdings of the Ethereum Foundation. Backed by Peter Thiel and Cathie Wood, BitMine quickly became the largest ETH holder in the world.
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For Lee, this was not just an investment. It was a statement that the balance of power in Ethereum was shifting—from developers and foundations to treasury companies with Wall Street access.
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<h2 class="p1" id="ethereum-s-1971-moment-regulation-and-wall-street-on-chain">ETHEREUM’S “1971 MOMENT”: REGULATION AND WALL STREET ON-CHAIN</h2>
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Why Ethereum, and why now? Lee often points to history.
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He compares today to 1971, when the U.S. ended the gold standard. Gold prices jumped, but the real winner was Wall Street. The end of gold backing forced new financial rails, fueling growth in derivatives, bonds, and modern markets.
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For Lee, Ethereum is at the same kind of turning point. In 2025, the U.S. regulatory mood is improving. Congress introduced the Genius Act, the SEC launched Project Crypto, and Circle’s IPO became crypto’s “ChatGPT moment.” Stablecoins and tokenization are exploding, forcing institutions to take blockchain seriously.
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Ethereum has already become Wall Street’s preferred chain. JPMorgan’s JPM Coin and Robinhood’s tokenization projects run on Ethereum. More than 60% of real-world asset tokenization happens on ETH. This is not only a tech lead but also a network effect.
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Lee calls this Ethereum’s “1971 moment.” He says, “Wall Street is moving onto crypto rails. Ethereum will not be the only winner, but it will be one of the biggest.”
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Compared to Bitcoin, Ethereum is still early. BTC is already institutionalized—investors know how to model and value it. ETH, however, has very low institutional ownership, looking more like BTC in 2017. That gap is why Lee sees bigger upside for ETH.
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<h2 class="p1" id="the-treasury-flywheel-beyond-etf-exposure">THE TREASURY FLYWHEEL: BEYOND ETF EXPOSURE</h2>
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Ethereum’s rally in 2025 has a new driver: treasury companies. BitMine and SharpLink Gaming are two leading names. By raising funds and issuing stock, they keep buying ETH, creating a new kind of demand.
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Treasury firms differ from ETFs. ETFs give passive exposure—each share always represents a fixed amount of ETH. Treasury companies, however, can grow the ETH per share by issuing stock when their share price trades at a premium. This creates what Lee calls the “accelerator effect.”
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MicroStrategy is the best example. Since 2020, its stock rose from $13 to $400, about 30x. BTC itself rose only 11x. The gap came from MicroStrategy using equity to buy more BTC, raising the BTC value per share from just a few dollars to over $200. ETFs never give this upside.
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BitMine is applying the same model. When it switched to an ETH treasury in July 2025, each share backed only $4 of ETH. By late July, this number had jumped to $23, a nearly 6x increase in one month.
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Of course, this model has risks. SharpLink, for example, bought over 800,000 ETH but saw its stock plunge almost 70% after share unlocks. Treasury firms depend on market confidence. Lee’s answer is to keep BitMine’s balance sheet simple—no convertible debt, no complex derivatives, only common stock. This way, the firm can better survive the next crypto winter.
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<h2 class="p1" id="the-60-000-target-and-the-bear-market-test">THE $60,000 TARGET AND THE BEAR MARKET TEST</h2>
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Lee’s most striking call is that ETH could be worth $60,000.
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The logic has two parts:
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Settlement network view: If half of the global banking system moves on-chain, Ethereum could capture about $38.8 trillion in value.
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Payments revenue view: Systems like Swift and Visa process $450 billion a year. If these flows move to ETH, gas fees could be valued at about $3 trillion with a 30x P/E ratio.
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Adding both gives ETH a fair value of $60,000—about 18x higher than today.
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Lee admits this is long-term, not a year-end goal. But he insists ETH is at a historic inflection point. Like Wall Street in 1971, Ethereum could become the core infrastructure for decades of financial innovation.
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Still, risks remain. The next bear market will come. For treasury firms, survival will depend on clean balance sheets, staking rewards, and even share buybacks. Lee says BitMine could use staking yield or cash flow to buy back shares if they trade at a discount. He also does not rule out mergers, if weaker treasury firms collapse in a downturn.
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As for mainstream index inclusion, Lee says BitMine already qualifies for the Russell 1000 but not the S&amp;P 500, which requires positive net income. That may happen once staking revenue kicks in.
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In the end, Lee frames his bet in big-picture terms: “We are watching financial history. Blockchain makes finance more democratic, breaking the old gatekeepers. Ethereum is not just another asset—it is one of the biggest macro trades of the next 10 to 15 years.”
〈<a href="https://www.coinrank.io/market/tom-lees-ethereum-bet-from-wall-street-to-the-60000-narrative/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Tom Lee’s Ethereum Bet: From Wall Street to the $60,000 Narrative</a>〉這篇文章最早發佈於《<a href="https://www.coinrank.io" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">CoinRank</a>》。

Tom Lee’s Ethereum Bet: From Wall Street to the $60,000 Narrative

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