Thomas “Tom” Lee has long been a prominent figure on Wall Street, and his recent move into crypto indicates he is eager to engage in the space.
This feature is part of CoinDesk’s Most Influential 2025 list.
In 2014, Lee co-founded Fundstrat Global Advisors, a financial research firm. He is currently the head of research at Fundstrat and FSInsight, as well as the chief investment officer at Fundstrat Capital. Over the past two decades, he has earned a reputation as a bullish, media-friendly equity strategist. As the Chairman of the Board at Ethereum treasury BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR), he occupies a pivotal role linking traditional finance with digital asset innovation.
Lee started his finance career as a research associate at Kidder Peabody in the early ’90s. He has also held positions at Oppenheimer and Salomon Smith Barney before eventually joining JPMorgan (JPM).
Throughout his 15 years at JPMorgan, Lee was recognized as one of the top analysts. He left the firm in 2014 to establish Fundstrat, where he was among the first major strategists to provide research on cryptocurrencies.
This expertise enhances his role at BitMine, which appointed him as Chairman in June of this year. As part of the transition, the company shifted focus from bitcoin mining to a treasury strategy centered on staking and holding ether as its primary reserve asset. They initiated a $250 million private placement to support this new direction.
“Stablecoins have emerged as the ‘chatGPT’ of crypto, leading to swift adoption across consumers, merchants, and financial services. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently suggested that the stablecoin market could reasonably expand from its current $250 billion to $2 trillion,” Lee noted in a press release. “Ethereum is the platform where most stablecoin transactions occur, meaning ETH is poised to benefit from this expansion.”
BitMine has adopted “ETH per share” as a crucial performance metric, aligning with strategies employed by other crypto treasury firms. Lee framed this approach as part of the overall convergence between traditional finance and crypto, particularly evident in the flourishing stablecoin market and Ethereum’s supremacy in smart contracts and tokenized assets.
In a recent post on X, Lee expressed that ether is “entering the same supercycle” that drove a 100x increase in bitcoin since his recommendation to clients in 2017. He acknowledged that BTC has faced six declines exceeding 50% and three drops greater than 75% in the last eight and a half years, arguing that such volatility signifies markets “pricing in a massive future,” requiring investors to withstand recurring “existential moments.”
He refrained from giving a timetable or price predictions for ether, simply highlighting that its ascent would not be linear. The cryptocurrency is down roughly 10% year-to-date, even with two significant code upgrades aimed at enhancing the blockchain set for 2025.
BitMine currently stands as the largest corporate holder of ether, with around 3.9 million tokens, accounting for over 3% of the overall supply of the second-largest cryptocurrency. Recently, the firm acquired 138,452 tokens in its largest weekly acquisition in at least a month. Additionally, it has increased its cash reserves to $1 billion, totalizing $13.2 billion in crypto and cash assets.
Lee indicated that the firm intensified its purchases of ether following the Ethereum blockchain’s Fusaka upgrade on Dec. 3. This upgrade is anticipated to enhance transaction throughput, maintain validator efficiency, and fortify the blockchain’s value capture by establishing a base level for blob fees. Traditionally, updates do not consistently influence ether’s price but reinforce the network’s institutional advantage.
He pointed to macro factors, such as a projected Federal Reserve rate cut this month and the conclusion of quantitative tightening, as triggers for a vibrant ether market in early 2026. Lee ascribed the recent downturn in crypto to a notable liquidity drop, possibly a result of a market maker reducing operations post the Oct. 10 flash crash.
The seasoned Wall Street veteran adeptly connects the institutional-investor landscape with the crypto realm. At Fundstrat, Lee developed a reputation for bold forecasts and candid optimism, and he is now channeling this influence into corporate strategies and board governance.
The transition to his new role at BitMine illustrates the development of the crypto-treasury model and indicates that experienced figures from traditional finance are increasingly prepared to take operational charge of digital asset investments.
