Tom Lee says Ethereum could easily top $10,000

Tom Lee says Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) treasury company BitMine Immersion Technologies (NASDAQ: BMNR ) is closing in on its ambitious goal of owning 5% of Ethereum’s total supply—and has no plans to stop there.

BitMine Is 97% Of The Way To Its ETH Goal Speaking on the Bankless podcast on Monday, Lee said BitMine currently holds about 5.82 million ETH, roughly 97% of the way toward its target of owning 5% of Ethereum’s supply.

The company needs to acquire roughly another $350 million worth of ETH to reach the target, according to Lee, which he predicts happening end of the year or sooner.

BitMine has purchased Ethereum for more than 60 consecutive weeks, although Lee maintained the company has deliberately slowed its buying pace after discussions with the Ethereum Foundation to avoid being viewed as a centralizing force.

Over the past five weeks, BitMine has divided its capital between ETH purchases and share buybacks, judging which offers the better prospective return.

Lee said the company has primarily funded its strategy by selling common stock when it trades above net asset value and avoiding debt.

Could BitMine Own More Than 5% Of ETH? BitMine could reconsider owning a larger share of Ethereum’s supply in 2027, particularly if enterprises increasingly begin holding ETH as an asset alongside using the network, Lee pointed out.

For now, however, the company remains focused on reaching its original target without destabilizing the ecosystem.

Lee also sees little reason for BitMine to sell its ETH holdings.

More than 5 million ETH is currently staked, leaving roughly 800,000 ETH unstaked.

Lee said staking rewards already comfortably cover the company’s preferred-stock dividend obligations.

Rather than selling ETH, BitMine would likely look for additional ways to generate returns from its holdings.

Will Tokenization, AI Push ETH Above $10,000? Lee sees tokenization as a much larger opportunity than the stablecoin boom, with stocks, bonds and other financial assets potentially moving on-chain.

He identified Ethereum and Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) as leading platforms for serious tokenization efforts.

AI could provide another major catalyst, as Lee expects growing machine-to-machine transactions to favor blockchain-based settlements.

Lee believes the cryptocurrency market has likely already bottomed, even if another local low remains possible.

The market could already be roughly 95% through the downturn on time and 90% on price.

That sets up a potentially stronger environment for Ethereum heading into 2027 and 2028.

Lee argued that simply entering another crypto bull cycle should be enough to push ETH back above $5,000.

With tokenization, AI adoption and new blockchain settlement infrastructure, the upside could be substantially greater. “I think Ethereum could easily be over $10,000 in that time frame,” Lee said.

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