Tom Lee Expects ‘Defining Year for Ethereum’ as BitMine Buys ETH Amid ‘Rock Bottom’ Vibes

Main Ethereum treasury firm BitMine Immersion Applied sciences introduced Tuesday that it bought 45,759 ETH final week—at the moment valued at almost $91 million—to spice up its complete stash to 4.37 million ETH, value $8.68 billion.

Whereas the corporate has seen the worth of its holdings fall considerably in latest months with Ethereum’s 60% plunge from its all-time excessive mark of $4,946 set final August, BitMine Chairman Tom Lee stays optimistic concerning the community’s prospects. He expects 2026 to be a “defining yr for Ethereum” after attending final week’s Consensus Hong Kong convention.

“We see strengthening product-market match rising on the again of three long-duration secular drivers: (i) Wall Road through tokenization/privateness on Ethereum; (ii) AI and AI-agents utilizing Ethereum for each accumulating funds in addition to verification; and (iii) creators leaning in the direction of ‘proof of human’ and different requirements operating on Ethereum layer-2 (Worldchain, and many others),” he stated in an announcement.

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“It’s evident that Ethereum is properly positioned to garner vital share,” Lee added, “given its neutrality and 100% uptime and reliability.”

BitMine’s Ethereum holdings are roughly $7.9 billion underwater, in accordance with knowledge from DropsTab. The publicly traded agency had disclosed its price foundation for Ethereum purchases in a late November submitting with the SEC, with estimates used for newer ETH buys.

The corporate additionally holds 193 Bitcoin ($13 million value) and $670 million in money. It additionally not too long ago invested $200 million in Beast Industries, the corporate of YouTube creator MrBeast. BitMine additionally invested $17 million into Eightco Holdings, an organization targeted on amassing Worldcoin, the token of Worldchain and the World human verification platform.

Whereas Lee stays bullish on Ethereum’s future within the wake of its dramatic drawdown, he admitted that bearish vibes have overtaken the market in latest months. Bitcoin stays 46% off its personal all-time excessive mark above $126,000 from October, with most different main cryptocurrencies equally nursing main drops from their very own respective peaks.

“Investor sentiment and enthusiasm, in contrast, are all-time low, reminding us of the forlornness and dejection seen on the November 2022 lows and depths of 2018 crypto winter,” Lee stated, noting that there haven’t been high-profile firm closures as there have been in 2022. “Relatively, it looks like crypto has remained weak because the ‘worth shock’ and big deleveraging seen on October 10.”

Customers on Myriad—a prediction market operated by Decrypt’s dad or mum firm, Dastan—stay bearish on Ethereum’s prospects forward, penciling in a 68% likelihood that ETH will fall from its present worth of about $1,990 to $1,500 before it might rise again to $3,000.

Even with the flagging sentiment, BitMine retains shopping for.

“We can’t management the value of Ethereum, and the corporate is buying ETH no matter worth development, because the long-term outlook for Ethereum stays excellent,” Lee added. “Therefore, we proceed to purchase ETH whilst crypto strikes by means of this ‘mini-winter.’”