Tom Lee, founder of Fundstrat Global Advisors and a staunch believer in cryptocurrency growth, served as chairman of the board last year. Under his guidance, Bitmine transformed from a bitcoin miner into the world's largest corporate holder of Ethereum.
As of August 10, Bitmine held 5.81 million Ether tokens, accounting for 4.8% of its total supply of 120.7 million tokens. The company also reaffirmed its goal to acquire 5% of the total Ether supply. Should investors follow Lee's example and buy more Ether, which has fallen nearly 60% over the past 12 months?
Why is Lee So Bullish on Ether?
Lee's endorsement of Ether carries significant weight, as he was one of the few analysts who advised investors to buy bitcoin in 2017 when its price was around $2,600. Bitcoin has since experienced several sharp fluctuations and is now trading at approximately $63,000.
Lee began recommending investors buy Ether in late 2024 when its price was around $3,400. Ether is now trading at around $1,900, but Lee insists that its price will rise to $22,000 in the next few years and reach $62,000–$250,000 in the long term.
Lee expects this growth to be fueled by several catalysts. As the largest developer-oriented blockchain for smart contracts and decentralized applications, Ethereum will grow as more stablecoins are issued and more tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) are stored on its network. As more artificial intelligence agents take on economic transactions, they will need to use public, neutral, and secure blockchains — such as Ethereum — for identity verification and machine-to-machine payments.
As Ether's value grows, its worth will increase, attracting more attention from institutional investors. With a market capitalization of $226 billion, Ethereum is still minuscule compared to Bitcoin, valued at $1.26 trillion. Currently, concerns about rising interest rates and other macroeconomic challenges are holding back Ether's growth, but it could skyrocket once these factors ease.
Should Investors Follow Lee's Lead?
Lee was right about bitcoin, but it has also experienced massive drawdowns over the past nine years. One shouldn't blindly assume Lee is right about Ether, as past performance never guarantees future returns.
Nevertheless, Ether has much clearer long-term catalysts than many other altcoins and is an attractive long-term investment based on the growing use of decentralized applications, AI agents, and tokenized assets.
Its spot price exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which were initially approved two years ago, could also attract more investors as the cryptocurrency market revives again. Therefore, while I wouldn't buy Ether as aggressively as Bitmine does, I would be willing to accumulate more of the world's second-largest cryptocurrency in this volatile market while the bulls are looking the other way.
