The Chief Investment Officer of Fundstrat, Tom Lee, has just made an ambitious prediction about Ethereum (ETH), suggesting that the price of this coin will rise to $5,500 in the short term and could reach $12,000 by the end of the year.
In a guest appearance on the Amitis Investing show on August 26, Lee revealed that the sentiment of Wall Street institutions towards Ethereum has changed significantly after the U.S. Senate passed the GENIUS Stablecoin Act. He emphasized that Ethereum is now the foundational blockchain infrastructure for traditional finance (TradFi), supporting a stablecoin supply worth over $145 billion, and this market dominance is why he views ETH as one of the largest macro investment opportunities in the coming decade.
Tom Lee's Ethereum Prediction and BitMine's Strategy
Lee's prediction came after BitMine's $7.65 billion U.S. Treasury bond accumulation strategy, the ETH fund management company he founded. Since launching this strategy, a large amount of capital has flowed into Ethereum, with investment managers and retail investors reallocating funds from Bitcoin to ETH, generating an average daily trading volume of $900 million.
According to reports from Willy Woo, on June 30, when Lee began BitMine's accumulation strategy, Ethereum's market capitalization increased by over $255 billion. Analyst Jeff Kendrick from Standard Chartered also noted that ETH fund management firms are becoming increasingly stronger in capital inflow compared to Bitcoin fund management firms. According to Kendrick, treasury entities focused on Ethereum have greater expansion potential than Bitcoin treasury firms.
Tom Lee's internal analyst, who accurately predicted ETH's drop to $4,075 before it rose to an all-time high of $4,900, has just provided new analysis for BitMine's management. On August 26, Lee predicted that the floor price of Ether would emerge within hours, coinciding with BitMine's purchase of an additional $21.28 million in ETH, raising their total ETH holdings to 1.72 million ETH, valued at $7.65 billion.
This forecast aligns with the technical assessment of analyst Mark Newton, who believes Ethereum could head towards a new peak near $5,100 before targeting $5,500. In an interview with CNBC, Lee reinforced his prediction, even setting a bold target of $12,000 to $16,000 for ETH, while emphasizing that 'Ethereum is experiencing its Bitcoin 2017 moment.'
Tom Lee became famous in 2017 when he predicted Bitcoin would reach $55,000 when it was only trading at $2,000, and many Wall Street experts at that time considered his prediction unrealistic. He is now applying the same belief to Ethereum, and his analysis is attracting significant attention from investors.
Ryan Adams, an investor and analyst at Bankless, stated that Lee's prediction for ETH is absolutely extraordinary. Adams noted that Tom Lee has accumulated nearly $10 billion worth of ETH in the past 50 days, accounting for about 1.4% of the total ETH supply. If Lee achieves his goal of accumulating 5% and ETH surpasses $12,000, Adams predicts BitMine could become the largest publicly held digital asset management company in the world.
Information from Arkham shows that nine whale addresses recently purchased a total of $456.8 million in ETH through BitGo and Galaxy Digital's over-the-counter trading services. These large holders are capitalizing on the growth momentum and capital inflow into Ethereum to reach new all-time highs.
Technical Analysis: ETH's Breakout Opportunity
According to technical analysis, the 1-hour ETH chart indicates short-term bullish momentum with clearly defined key support areas. The price has recently recovered from the demand zone of $4,200–4,460, with additional Long positions established around $4,500, indicating confident accumulation as prices decline.
The chart shows that ETH has the potential to break through the resistance zone of $4,950–5,000, in line with the potential breakout target from the developing harmonized model structure. Currently, ETH is consolidating around $4,580 after a pullback, while momentum indicators show a recent bullish crossover, opening up opportunities for continued recovery.
If the demand zone maintains support during pullbacks, the outlook remains positive, with the next key resistance level being $4,950–5,000. Conversely, if support is not maintained above $4,600, a deeper correction may occur before prices continue to rise.