Lee’s comments come as VanEck filed for the first Lido Staked Ethereum ETF with the SEC, to give investors exposure to stETH. Despite the 17-day US government shutdown, several crypto ETF filings — including from ARK Invest and 21Shares — poured in. This means that there is still strong momentum in the sector and renewed confidence in Ethereum’s growing role in the economy.
Ethereum Might Outshine Bitcoin
BitMine chair Tom Lee reignited the long-standing debate about whether Ethereum could one day surpass Bitcoin in market dominance. This scenario is referred to as “the flippening.”
Speaking with ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood, Lee drew a parallel between Ethereum’s potential rise and the US dollar’s ascent over gold after the 1971 “Nixon Shock,” when President Richard Nixon ended the dollar’s convertibility to gold. He suggested that just as Wall Street’s financial innovation cemented the dollar’s dominance in the decades after the gold standard was abandoned, Ethereum could benefit from a future where “everything becomes tokenized.”
Lee explained that the abandonment of the gold standard made the US dollar “fully synthetic,” which led to fears of its potential collapse. However, instead of losing value, the dollar became the cornerstone of global finance, aided by Wall Street’s creation of financial instruments that amplified its utility.
Drawing the same analogy, Lee argued that Ethereum could become the “dominant” platform in the digital economy as tokenization spreads across assets like stablecoins, stocks, and real estate. “Dollar dominance is going to be the opportunity of Ethereum,” he said, and explained that Ethereum’s adaptability could make it the backbone of the tokenized world.
Despite his bullish stance on Ethereum’s future, Lee also acknowledged that he is still very much a Bitcoin supporter, and clarified that his idea is still a “working theory.” Currently, Bitcoin’s market cap stands at around $2.14 trillion, which is roughly 4.6 times higher than Ethereum’s $464 billion. Lee believes this gap could narrow as blockchain-based assets expand.
The concept of Ethereum surpassing Bitcoin circulated in crypto circles for years, and attracted some new traction thanks to the growing institutional and developer interest in Ethereum’s ecosystem.
Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin predicted in August that ETH could “surge by 100 times and flip Bitcoin as a monetary base.” Bitcoin advocate Samson Mow, however, countered that Ethereum holders will eventually rotate back to Bitcoin. DeVere Group CEO Nigel Green is also optimistic about Ethereum’s trajectory, and said years ago that its “ascent to the top of the cryptoverse seems unstoppable.”
VanEck Files Ethereum Staking ETF
The growing institutional interest in cryptos like Ethereum is becoming more and more clear. In fact, the race to launch new crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States accelerated this week after at least five new filings were submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) despite the ongoing 17-day government shutdown.
The latest application came from VanEck, which filed an S-1 form on Thursday for the VanEck Lido Staked Ethereum ETF. The fund is designed to track the performance of stETH, which is Lido’s liquid staking token that represents staked Ether plus accumulated rewards. According to the filing, the trust expects to earn staking yields through its ownership of stETH.
VanEck S-1 filing (Source: SEC)
VanEck took initial steps toward the product earlier this month by registering a statutory trust in Delaware. Lido currently holds about 8.5 million ETH valued at roughly $33 billion, and offers users a 3.3% yield on deposits. This makes it the largest liquid staking provider in the Ethereum ecosystem.
At the same time, ETF issuers are expanding into more experimental territory. 21Shares filed for a leveraged crypto ETF tied to the Hyperliquid native token, HYPE, offering 2x exposure to its single-day performance. Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas called the product “so niche” but acknowledged that such funds could still attract billions over time as investor appetite grows. He added that the current wave of filings represents “a total land rush” in the ETF space.
Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest also joined the surge by submitting three Bitcoin-related ETF applications on Tuesday. These include the ARK Bitcoin Yield ETF, which uses options-based strategies to generate income, and two downside-protected funds — the ARK DIET Bitcoin 1 and 2 ETFs — designed to give investors partial protection while maintaining exposure to Bitcoin’s upside.
Meanwhile, Volatility Shares filed for a suite of leveraged ETFs offering 3x and 5x exposure to both crypto and major US equities. VanEck also updated its Solana Staking ETF filing, reducing its management fee to 0.3%, according to Bloomberg’s James Seyffart.
ETF Store President Nate Geraci said that the ongoing government shutdown is ironically delaying decisions on spot crypto ETFs at a time when institutional interest is peaking. “Once the government shutdown ends, spot crypto ETF floodgates open,” he said.
