ETH Stockpile Grows
Bitmine chair Tom Lee’s belief in Ethereum is so great that it probably wouldn’t surprise anyone if he got down on one knee and proposed to the world’s second-largest crypto platform.
Ethereum certainly has its fans – more than ever before in fact – but there is none bigger than the prominent Wall Street strategist.
Even when the Ethereum price USD has been in the doldrums, he has continued buying the platform’s native ETH token by the thousands.
Despite war breaking out in the Middle East in early 2026, cryptocurrencies rallied back from a six-month slump.
Naturally, Lee went on another ETH buying spree, adding 60,999 tokens to bring Bitmine’s total ETH holdings to 4.596 million (valued at $10 billion).
Crypto Appeal Amid Conflict
Bitmine has become something of an Ethereum treasury company.
Following Lee’s purchase on 16 March, Bitmine held 3.81% of Ethereum’s total token supply.
Lee has also made no bones about the fact that he ultimately would want that figure to be 5%.
He also has openly stated that the situation in Iran and its impact on fuel prices and economic growth prospects worked in the favour of his company’s ETH treasury.
“Since the start of the Iran war, crypto prices have outperformed and Ethereum has outperformed the S&P 500 by 2,450bp. This is a meaningful outperformance in a mere two weeks,” he said in a statement.
“In our view, higher oil is triggering concerns of slowing growth for the global economy. And when investors worry about growth, they buy ‘growth stocks’ including MAG7, software and crypto.”
He explained that 5,000 of the 60,999 tokens were obtained from the Ethereum Foundation (EF) itself.
This was to demonstrate Bitmine’s support for the “goals and operations of EF and enabled EF to raise capital without having to sell its ETH in the open market”.
100x Return
Many ask why Lee remains so bullish about Ethereum. He never leaves them guessing.
In January 2026, he reiterated his position that the platform’s staking yields, network fees, and Layer-2 scaling drive recurring demand.
By his estimation, Ethereum could deliver a hundred-times return from current levels.
In his view, a supercycle is unfolding for the platform.
A supercycle refers to a multi-year bull market where digital asset prices rise continuously, even beyond Bitcoin’s typical four-year “boom-and-bust” cycle.
Lee has even predicted that the Ethereum price could rise to $60 000 in the long term.
Based on early 2026 levels, that would put Ethereum a mere $10 000 behind crypto king Bitcoin.
Near-ideal market conditions would be needed for that to happen, but it is not beyond reach.
Lee believes institutions, not retail speculation, will drive the supercycle. This is because after many years, traditional finance, governmental regulation, and blockchain are starting to align.
Influencer in Ethereum’s Corner
Ethereum is fortunate to have someone as influential as Lee in its corner.
His sentiments carry a lot of weight in the market, and have done for some time.
A case could even be made that it should be the platform, not Lee, who pops the question.
