Tom Lee's call: Ethereum to surge to $9,000 early next year, Bitcoin to reach $200,000 by 2026

BitMine Chairman Tom Lee stated that as Wall Street accelerates the tokenization of assets and moves financial activities on-chain, Ethereum (ETH) could rise to $7,000–$9,000 by early 2026.
(Background: BitMine stakes nearly 75,000 ETH for the first time! SharpLink unstakes over 35,000 ETH, but CEO claims: Ethereum TVL will increase tenfold next year)
(Additional background: BitMine continues to buy Ethereum! Invested $19.63 million to purchase 6,678 ETH, with total holdings approaching 4.1 million ETH)

The world’s largest Ethereum reserve company, BitMine Immersion Technologies, Chairman Tom Lee, said this week on CNBC’s Power Lunch that as Wall Street accelerates asset tokenization and moves financial activities on-chain, Ethereum (ETH) could climb to $7,000–$9,000 by early 2026.

Ethereum to surge to $7,000–$9,000 early next year

Tom Lee, co-founder and research head of Fundstrat Global Advisors, pointed out that the investment value of Ethereum is increasingly closely linked to its role as a financial infrastructure. Wall Street is actively experimenting with on-chain settlement and tokenized securities, “Wall Street wants to tokenize everything,” he exemplified, citing institutions like broker Robinhood and asset management giant BlackRock, which are advancing related plans. Therefore, this trend not only improves traditional financial efficiency but also brings real-world applications to Ethereum.

Lee further emphasized that Ethereum’s position in institutional finance is becoming more important, especially in RWA and stablecoin issuance. Ethereum currently dominates the tokenization of RWA market, holding over $12 billion in assets, and issuing about $170 billion in stablecoins, becoming the main settlement layer for on-chain dollar activities. He expects that with increased adoption, Ethereum could long-term reach $20,000.

Additionally, Tom Lee is also optimistic about Bitcoin, viewing it as a “true store of value,” and believes that Bitcoin reaching $200,000 next year is quite reasonable. Its recent underperformance compared to gold is just a temporary phenomenon.

BitMine stakes Ethereum for the first time

It is worth noting that earlier today (27), on-chain data monitoring showed that BitMine Immersion Technologies has for the first time staked its held Ethereum to earn staking rewards.

According to official data, the company now holds over 4,066,062 ETH (about 3.37% of Ethereum’s total supply). On-chain analyst @EmberCN also posted on X platform that, based on the current annualized yield (APY) of approximately 3.12%, if BitMine stakes all its Ethereum holdings, it could earn about 126,800 ETH in interest in one year. At the ETH price of $2,927 at that time, this would be worth approximately $371 million.