Tom Lee: Ethereum Is Having A '2017 Bitcoin Moment', Could Hit $15,000 By End Of 2025

Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee predicts Ethereum ETH/USD may possibly overtake Bitcoin BTC/USD thanks to its use cases for Wall Street.

What Happened: In an appearance on the Bankless podcast on Aug.6, Tom Lee predicts Ethereum could deliver a 100x return and potentially flip Bitcoin’s market cap, driven by accelerating Wall Street adoption and Ethereum’s central role in blockchain infrastructure.

His new firm, Bitmine Immersion Techs BMNR, has already acquired 833,000 ETH, worth $3 billion, in just 27 days, 12x faster than Strategy’s Bitcoin accumulation pace.

Lee sees Ethereum's current moment as its “2017 Bitcoin moment”, where institutional investors are just beginning to enter.

He argues that ETH is becoming the legally compliant, yield-generating blockchain favored by traditional finance, pointing to projects like USDC USDC/USD, Coinbase‘s Base, and Robinhood's L2 being built on Ethereum.

Bitmine aims to accumulate 5% of total ETH supply, benefiting from both asset appreciation and staking yield (~3%), thus transforming treasury companies into revenue-generating infrastructure firms.

Also Read: Ethereum Bear Sitting On $4.25 Million In Unrealized Profits, But Analysts Say The Next Move Is Up

What's Next: Lee's bull case sees ETH reaching $7,000–$15,000 by year-end and possibly $20,000 longer-term, with a non-trivial chance of overtaking Bitcoin in network value.

He downplays bubble risks, citing persistent bearish sentiment and lack of leverage, and urges investors to focus on ETH per share, velocity, and scarcity metrics over complex valuations.

He concludes that the intersection of Wall Street, tech, and AI on Ethereum sets the stage for massive upside.

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