Tom Lee: Ethereum central to financial infrastructure shift, sees $12,000 ETH and 2026 as pivotal for BitMine

Tom Lee, chairman of BitMine and co-founder of Fundstrat, told a BitMine shareholder meeting on Jan. 17 that Ethereum is positioned at the core of a new wave of financial infrastructure, with 2026 potentially marking a breakout year as tokenization of real-world assets and broader institutional adoption accelerate. Standard Chartered projects ETH could reach $12,000 in 2026, under which Lee said BitMine's theoretical share price would be around $500 based on historical correlation. BitMine currently holds about 4.2 million ETH and roughly $1 billion in cash, projected to generate $402 million to $433 million in pre-tax income under current conditions, rising to an estimated $2 billion to $2.2 billion if ETH hits $12,000 and the company controls around 5% of total ETH supply.