Tom Lee is betting big on Ethereum: will the risk pay off?

Ethereum

Tom Lee is betting big on Ethereum: will the risk pay off？

Their strategy seems to be to accumulate ETH as much as possible, in the hope that sooner or later there will be a new bull run that will push the value of Ethereum much higher again.

To be honest, they are not the only ones using a similar strategy, except that Bitmine is doing it by buying whale-sized quantities, while many others are doing it by buying much less.

Will the risk pay off this bet？

Tom Lees bet

Since June of last year, Tom Lee has become the CEO of Bitmine.

Bitmine has been a publicly traded company since way back in 1997, and in recent years it first turned into a Bitcoin miner, and then into one of the main Ethereum Treasury Companies. As of today, it is the largest publicly traded corporate holder of ETH.

The strategy that Bitmine has been adopting since Tom Lee became its CEO is to accumulate millions of ETH, with the goal of owning 5% of the entire Ethereum supply.

As of today, out of the 120 million existing ETH, Bitmine owns more than 5 million, or almost 4.5%. Their primary goal therefore is not far off.

Their strategy is similar to that of Michael Saylor with MicroStrategy on Bitcoin, but focused on Ethereum.

They started buying ETH in July of last year, after Tom Lee became CEO, and they bought quite a lot up until October. Therefore, the bulk (3.2 million ETH) was actually bought during last years bull run, when the price of Ethereum, in August, hit its all-time high.

With the start of the bear market they paradoxically reduced their purchases, so that for now their investment is showing a heavy loss.

In fact, although the average purchase price is not known, according to several estimates it fluctuates between $2,800 and $3,500, that is, much less than the current value of ETH, which barely exceeds $2,000.

It certainly would have been better to wait a few months and start buying only during the bear market, rather than buying in the middle of the bull run.

Bitmine on the stock market

Before changing its name to Bitmine and starting to mine Bitcoin, the price of BMNR shares had already largely collapsed.

The stock market debut took place in 1997 at a price which, compared to the current one, was higher than 28 million dollars. In the middle of the dot-com bubble it recorded an all-time high above 77 million, only to collapse in the following years down to $5.

After practically burning through all its value, in 2022, with the change of name and business, the price of Bitmine shares rose to $70, only to plunge to $4 in the following years.

The second turnaround attempt took place in June of last year, with the arrival of Tom Lee, but even in that case the price reaction was just yet another bubble.

In fact, at the beginning of July it had shot up above $160, but just before the middle of the month the bubble began to burst.

With the new collapse in the price of Ethereum, which began in November 2025 and continued until February 2026, the price of Bitmine shares fell below $20, although for now it still remains far from the initial $4.

Ethereum

As for Ethereum, the current price is actually lower than it was in May 2025, and even lower than at the beginning of May 2022.

In reality, however, the trend it is following during this 2026 bear market in some ways mirrors that of the 2022 bear market, although with some differences.

At that time it came from the all-time high of November 2021 at $4,800, while now it comes from the new all-time high of August 2025 at $4,900.

However, there is a major difference.

In fact, in 2022, after about seven months of decline from the all-time high, the price fell further, whereas this time after seven months the price seems to have stopped falling. It should be remembered, however, that during crypto bear-market years the lows are often made in autumn, not in spring.

In light of all this, Bitmines decision to accumulate Ethereum mainly during the bull run, and then reduce purchases during the bear market, is all the more surprising, also because such behavior by the price of Ethereum is absolutely normal, and perhaps even partly predictable.

On the other hand, Strategy does the same with Bitcoin, even though it is hard to fully understand the logic.