Ethereum’s price might look ordinary on the surface, but BitMine (BMNR) Chairman Tom Lee says it is anything but. He believes Ethereum is trading at a “discount to the future.” He points to the collision of two powerful trends, institutional finance and artificial intelligence, both of which he argues will eventually need Ethereum’s neutral public blockchain to operate at scale. For Lee, this makes Ethereum one of the biggest macro trades of the next decade.
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His comments arrive as competition heats up among treasury companies racing to accumulate ETH. The latest moves from BitMine Immersion Technologies and Bit Digital (BTBT) show how aggressively institutions are positioning. With Wall Street circling blockchain adoption and AI companies increasingly exploring Ethereum for settlement and infrastructure, the market for ETH is starting to look less like speculation and more like a strategic arms race.
Bit Digital Plans to Raise $100M for Ethereum Purchases
Digital asset company Bit Digital said on Monday that it plans to raise $100 million through a convertible senior note offering. It is also offering an option for an extra $15 million. The proceeds are intended for more Ethereum purchases and for general corporate initiatives. The company also noted that funds could go toward acquisitions and other digital asset opportunities.
Bit Digital already holds more than 120,000 Ethereum. This makes it the seventh-largest Ethereum treasury company tracked by StrategicEtherReserve. If the raise is successful, the firm could buy another 23,714 tokens. This would move it up to sixth place ahead of Coinbase (COIN).
BitMine Expands Its Lead with $11 Billion in Ethereum
BitMine said on Monday that it has expanded its treasury holdings to 2.65 million Ethereum worth more than $11 billion. This further cements its lead as the largest Ethereum treasury company. Its most recent purchase came on September 26, when it added 234,000 tokens. The company is pursuing a long-term goal of holding 5 percent of the entire Ethereum supply.
The company estimates its average purchase price at $4,141 per token. With Ethereum currently trading at $4,154, the firm is already sitting on paper gains.
Lee Says ETH Is a ‘Discount to the Future’
Lee argues that Ethereum’s price still underrepresents its long-term potential. “ETH’s current price is a discount to the future,” he said. He highlighted two supercycles that he sees forming in the final months of 2025, one in crypto and one in artificial intelligence. He believes both will converge on Ethereum as the backbone.
“Wall Street and AI moving onto the blockchain should lead to a greater transformation of today’s financial system. And the majority of this is taking place on Ethereum,” he said.
Similar confidence has been voiced by Jan van Eck, CEO of investment giant VanEck. In August he said that financial services are likely to adopt Ethereum for stablecoin settlement. He called Ethereum the most credible platform for global finance.
Institutions Increase Their Ethereum Holdings
Institutional holdings of Ethereum continue to grow quickly. Treasury companies and exchange traded funds combined now control more than 11.8 million tokens. This represents nearly 10 percent of the total supply.
Analysts say that kind of positioning could create a supply squeeze. The competition among corporate treasuries is drawing comparisons to Strategy’s (MSTR) role in Bitcoin.
Etherealize’s Vivek Raman told Cointelegraph in August that institutional demand could ignite a “DeFi Summer 2.0” on an even bigger scale. David Grider of Finality Capital predicted in July that the Ethereum treasury boom would drive flows and price action similar to Bitcoin’s institutional wave.
At the time of writing, Ethereum is sitting at $4,154.
