Bitmine's Tom Lee Declares End to 'Mini Crypto Winter,' Projects Ether Over $60K
At Paris Blockchain Week, Bitmine chairman Tom Lee characterized the recent cryptocurrency downturn as a "mini crypto winter" and projected that Ether has the potential to surpass $60,000 in the coming years.
Tom Lee, chairman of Bitmine Immersion Technologies, declared on Wednesday that the cryptocurrency market's recent downturn represented a "mini crypto winter" that could be drawing to a close, making these remarks shortly following the firm's disclosure of a quarterly loss running into the billions of dollars, primarily attributed to unrealized write-downs on its Ether portfolio.
Speaking at Paris Blockchain Week 2026 during a keynote address, Lee expressed his view that equity markets have found their floor in response to the US-Israel war with Iran, and predicted that Ether (ETH) will break out from its current "massive consolidation" phase, propelled by tokenization trends and agentic artificial intelligence projects connected to the smart contract platform.
According to Lee, equity markets have hit bottom, setting the stage for recovery from what he characterized as an "unusual" cryptocurrency market decline that, for the first time, didn't align with a broader stock market bear phase. "Equity markets bottom on bad news. And we've had a lot of bad news," Lee stated, referencing historical patterns where stock markets found their lows following the commencement of military conflicts.
Lee further projected that ETH is "probably on its way to 60,000" assuming his market analysis proves accurate, and subsequently characterized $62,000 as a realistic fair-value projection over the coming years, premised on Ethereum achieving approximately one-quarter of Bitcoin's (BTC) long-term valuation.
These statements arrive during a broader cryptocurrency market correction that has witnessed Ether's price decline 43% from October 2025 levels to currently trade near $2,327 as of this writing, substantially beneath Bitmine's average purchase price of $3,660, based on information from Bitminetracker.
Bitmine posts $3.8 billion quarterly loss on Ether holdings
Lee's public remarks also came on the heels of Bitmine disclosing a $3.82 billion loss related to its Ether position throughout the year's first quarter, as detailed in a Tuesday submission to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
The loss figure was predominantly attributed to the firm's more than $3.78 billion in unrealized losses stemming from its cryptocurrency portfolio. Bitmine additionally disclosed $11 million in revenue, with $10.2 million derived from ETH staking activities.
Notwithstanding the accumulating losses, Bitmine revealed the acquisition of 71,524 Ether on Monday, bringing the company's total holdings to approximately 4.04% of Ether's entire supply. These most recent purchases occurred soon after Bitmine made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange on April 9, having uplisted from NYSE American.
Bitmine and Exodus Movement represent the only two Ether treasury companies to have publicly announced Ether investment activities within the past 30 days.
Bitmine stands as the largest corporate holder of Ether with 4.6 million ETH presently valued at more than $10 billion, whereas SharpLink Gaming occupies the second position, holding 863,000 Ether valued at $1.89 billion, according to data provided by StrategicEthReserve.