Tom Lee Sees a 12-Month Crypto Bull Market
Lee points to last year’s heavy wave of liquidations and sees room for a rebound in Bitcoin and Ether. At the same time, he is betting on tokenization, while the CLARITY Act over spot crypto markets moves through Washington.
Key Takeaways
- Tom Lee expects crypto to enter a strong bull market over the next 12 months, because he thinks the worst liquidation pain is already behind it.
- He points to the heavy crash on October 10, when more than $19 billion in borrowed crypto positions were liquidated after tariff threats toward China.
- Lee is betting on tokenization and says U.S. regulation matters, while BitMine is billions underwater on ether, according to the text.
Tom Lee expects crypto to turn “really bullish” over the next 12 months. The Wall Street strategist says the worst pain is already behind the crypto market, but his own position makes that call stand out even more: BitMine Immersion Technologies, the company where he is chairman, is about $5 billion (€4.3 billion) underwater on ether, according to the text.
Lee, who leads research at Fundstrat Global Advisors, ties his optimism to last year’s heavy wave of liquidations. On October 10, the threat of 100% tariffs on China triggered the biggest liquidation crypto has seen so far. More than $19 billion (€16.4 billion) in borrowed positions disappeared in a single day. According to Lee, that means a large part of the pain has already been taken out of the market.
Bitcoin and Ether Still Lagging
Bitcoin is trading around $77,315 (€66,700), about 39% below its record above $126,000 (€108,700), which was set just before that crash. Ether rose 3.2% in 24 hours to about $2,533 (€2,190). The numbers show the market is still trading far below earlier peaks, even though there has been some short-term recovery.
Lee says he expects the bottom of the four-year cycle, a rhythm many traders watch, to come next month. He told Wealthion that he expects crypto to enter a “really bullish period” over the next 12 months.
Tokenization as the Big Bet
A big part of his case centers on tokenization. That means putting stocks, bonds, and funds on blockchains instead of the slow back-office systems banks use now. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has said before that every asset can be tokenized.
Lee calculates that moving $100 trillion (€86.3 trillion) in assets on chain, with a 1% yield, would mean $1.1 trillion (€0.9 trillion) in annual revenue. Based on a normal valuation, he says that would create a $20 trillion (€17.3 trillion) opportunity. At the same time, reality is still lagging behind that big promise. BeInCrypto Research counted $60 billion (€51.8 billion) on chain at the end of May, while 56% of that saw no weekly transfers. The global RWA tokenization market reached $27.5 billion (€23.7 billion) in on-chain TVL at the end of Q1 2026, after growing 30% in one quarter.
Politics and Positioning
In Washington, the House is voting Tuesday on the CLARITY Act, which would give the CFTC control over spot crypto markets. Lee says the regulator is already operating that way in practice. For European readers, that matters because U.S. rules often quickly spill over into the broader crypto market and into how major players look at tokenization.
His optimism does sit next to a tough reality. BitMine holds 5.93 million ether, but that position is billions underwater, according to the text. Lee said earlier in August that fear could push Bitcoin to $150,000 (€129,400). His closing question was sharp: do investors want to be right, or do they want to make money?
