Tom Lee says the next 12 months will be “really bullish” for crypto. The Wall Street strategist has reason to hope he is right, because the company he chairs sits about $5 billion underwater.
Lee runs research at Fundstrat Global Advisors and chairs BitMine Immersion Technologies, which holds 5.93 million ether.
The Worst is Over for Crypto Markets?
His first argument is that the pain already happened. On October 10 last year, a threat of 100% tariffs on China set off the largest liquidation crypto has seen. More than $19 billion in leveraged bets vanished in a day.
The borrowed money went with it, Lee says. He reads the bottom of crypto’s four-year cycle, a rhythm many traders use to time the market, as next month.
Prices have not caught up. Bitcoin (BTC) trades near $77,315, roughly 39% below its record above $126,000, set days before that crash. Ether has added 3.2% in 24 hours to about $2,533.
“I think it’s going to be a really bullish period for crypto for the next 12 months,” Lee told Wealthion.
A $20 Trillion Bet on Wall Street
The bigger idea is tokenization. That means moving stocks, bonds and funds onto blockchains instead of the slow back-office systems banks run today. BlackRock chief Larry Fink has said every asset can be tokenized.
Lee did the arithmetic. Shift $100 trillion of assets on chain, keep 1% of it, and that is $1.1 trillion a year in income. Valued like a normal business, that is a $20 trillion prize.
However, Lee’s math assumes the assets move. Theo chief investment officer, Iggy Ioppe, calls wrapping an asset and parking it “tokenization theater.” BeInCrypto Research’s Tokenization 2026 report counted $60 billion (0.06% of 1% of the number Lee is pricing) on chain as of May 31, with 56% of that value seeing no weekly transfers.
Washington votes Tuesday on whether to debate the CLARITY Act, which would hand the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) control of spot crypto markets. Lee said the agency already acts that way.
The Part He Does Not Advertise
None of this is neutral. BitMine’s ether is about $5 billion underwater, BeInCrypto reported this month. In August, Lee said fear could push Bitcoin toward $150,000.
“I might just say the real question that people need to ask is do they want to be right or do they want to make money?” he posed.
Fundstrat has advised a 2% crypto allocation for more than a decade. In client accounts that took it, he said, crypto is now more than 85% of the portfolio.
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