Tom Lee: Ethereum to Kick Off 'Second Growth Curve' as Wall Street Institutions Expand Ecosystem Footprint

Fundstrat co-founder and Bitmine chairman Tom Lee said in a speech at WebX 2026 that Ethereum is at a critical juncture similar to the second-stage growth phase entered by Amazon, NVIDIA, and JPMorgan Chase. He believes Ethereum will follow a similar trajectory. Since its launch, ETH has gone through the ICO boom and the NFT boom, hitting an all-time high of $4,866. In 2025, driven by the approval of spot ETFs and the rapid popularization of stablecoins, it rebounded to $4,955 at one point. Now, the price has fallen to around $1,732, a phase Lee defines as "market capitulation at the bottom". Future growth of ETH 2.0 will rest on four pillars: a new Ethereum Foundation governance structure, Agentic AI, a settlement layer for the financial system, and ETH becoming a true "currency". Lee noted that Wall Street institutions are expanding their footprint in the Ethereum ecosystem, and these large firms' ongoing construction of Layer 2 networks signals that the entire traditional financial system is gradually migrating to the Ethereum ecosystem. Bitmine initially planned to hold 5% of the total global ETH supply over five years, but has now achieved 95% of that target in just 12 months. Currently, the company holds a total of 5.74 million ETH, accounting for approximately 4.8% of the total ETH supply, of which around 4.87 million ETH (about 85%) is staked.