Tom Lee, chief investment officer at Fundstrat Global Advisors, projected Ethereum could surge past $20,000 within the next year. He cited the growing tokenization of securities on Wall Street as the primary catalyst. Speaking at the Binance blockchain conference in Dubai on Thursday, Lee also forecast Bitcoin would reach $300,000 by early 2026.
What Happened: Bold Predictions
Lee told conference attendees that Bitcoin will mirror the performance of the S&P 500 U.S. stock index next year. He dismissed the traditional four-year market cycle.
"I think Ethereum is lights out," he said before adding his $20,000 price target for the asset in 2026.
Lee pointed to Wall Street's increasing tokenization of securities. Most activity occurs on Ethereum's network. According to RWA.xyz, Ethereum holds more than 70% market share of real-world asset tokenization value when layer-2 networks and EVM-compatible platforms are included. Lee explained he turned BitMine into an Ether treasury company based on this trend.
"I think Ethereum is going to become the future of finance, the payment rails of the future, and if it gets to 0.25 relative to Bitcoin, that's $62,000," Lee said. "Ethereum at $3,000 is grossly undervalued."
BitMine purchased 41,946 ETH worth $131 million on Thursday, according to blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain on Friday. The acquisition marked the firm's fourth Ether purchase this week. BitMine has not officially confirmed the transactions, though the firm appears to have accumulated more than $350 million worth of the asset over the past several days.
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Why It Matters: Technical Breakout
Lee emphasized that Ether has traded in a range for five years. The asset has started to break out from this base. "The bigger the base, the bigger the breakout," he said.
Market analyst Sykodelic echoed the outlook Thursday. Historical patterns suggest significant upside potential. "In the last five years, every single time the 1-day RSI has gone from overbought down to oversold, and then broken the trend, it has pumped a minimum of 45%," the analyst stated. That trajectory would push Ether to $4,300.
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