Tom Lee: “Ethereum’s sharp drop is an opportunity… it’s simply a decline driven by a lack of leverage and a rotation into gold”

Tom Lee, chairman of BitMine, recently described Ethereum’s (ETH) steep selloff as “a pullback driven by supply-demand and positioning factors rather than a deterioration in fundamentals,” adding that the current level looks attractive from a medium- to long-term perspective.

According to Cointelegraph on the 3rd (local time), Lee said “Q1 2026 could be an important inflection point for Ethereum,” adding that “despite the price decline, on-chain indicators and network activity are actually strengthening.”

In fact, Ethereum’s daily transaction count hit an all-time high of 2.8 million as of Jan. 15, and in 2026 the number of daily active addresses also rose to as many as 1 million.

He explained that “during the 2018 and 2022 crypto-winter phases, transaction activity and the number of active wallets fell in tandem with prices, but the past 12 months have shown the opposite trend,” adding that “Ethereum’s price weakness stems from external factors, not fundamentals.”

Lee cited two factors weighing on Ethereum’s price: derivatives-market leverage has yet to return following large-scale liquidations in October last year, and a surge in precious-metal prices such as gold and silver has acted as a “capital vortex,” absorbing risk appetite.

Based on this view, BitMine, an Ethereum treasury company led by Lee, has recently stepped in to buy during the correction. BitMine added 41,788 ETH over the past week, bringing its total holdings to about 4.28 million ETH, or 3.55% of total supply. Of that, about 2.87 million ETH is being used for staking.

However, as Ethereum’s price plunged more than 25% over the past week from around $3,000 to $2,200, BitMine’s unrealized losses are estimated to be nearing $7 billion. Even so, Lee interpreted the pullback as an opportunity, saying “Ethereum’s price still does not adequately reflect its utility and its value as future financial infrastructure.”