Tom Lee says crypto has entered a bull market, but the Fundstrat co-founder is backing that view with something more tangible than a market forecast: Bitmine now controls almost 5% of Ethereum’s entire supply.
Speaking at Korea Blockchain Week on Wednesday, Lee said crypto has moved into a bull-market phase, pointing to Bitcoin’s break above its 200-day moving average, renewed institutional inflows, accelerating tokenization and the growing use of digital currencies by AI agents.
The call is not an entirely new shift in Lee’s outlook. Bitmine had already said in its latest corporate update that it believes the bull market began in late June, while arguing that institutions remain underweight crypto and could increase exposure during the final months of 2026.
Bitmine Is Putting Billions Behind Lee’s Thesis
The scale of Bitmine’s Ethereum position makes Lee’s bullish view particularly notable.
As of Sept. 27, Bitmine held 6,001,302 ETH, equal to 4.9% of Ethereum’s 122.1 million-token supply. The company says it is now 98% of the way toward its “Alchemy of 5%” target after accumulating ETH for roughly 15 months. Its crypto, cash and marketable securities holdings totaled $17.2 billion.
That marks a sharp increase from the 5.70 million ETH and 4.7% supply share Bitmine disclosed at the end of June, showing that accumulation continued even as crypto markets remained volatile.
The Bull Case Is Increasingly About Institutions
Lee’s thesis goes beyond crypto prices. He argues that tokenization and institutional adoption could make the next leg of the cycle structurally different from earlier rallies.
That argument already has infrastructure behind it. The recently launched Ethereum Institutional initiative is targeting banks, asset managers, custodians and market-infrastructure firms as more financial assets move onchain.
