Tom Lee Reveals: Ethereum Emerges as Wall Street’s Undisputed Blockchain Choice
Wall Street's blockchain allegiance shifts decisively toward Ethereum as institutional adoption accelerates.
Market Validation
Fundstrat's co-founder Tom Lee confirms what crypto insiders suspected—traditional finance giants now view Ethereum as their primary blockchain infrastructure. The endorsement signals maturation beyond Bitcoin's store-of-value narrative into practical financial applications.
Institutional Infrastructure
Major banks quietly build Ethereum-based settlement systems while asset managers tokenize everything from real estate to private equity. The network effects create a self-reinforcing cycle that leaves competing chains scrambling for relevance.
Regulatory Alignment
Ethereum's proof-of-stake transition aligns with ESG mandates that Wall Street compliance departments demand. The merge eliminates Bitcoin's energy consumption objections that previously hindered institutional participation.
Wall Street finally adopts blockchain technology—just in time to miss the retail revolution they originally dismissed. The irony isn't lost on crypto natives watching traditional finance play catch-up.
Ethereum positions as Wall Street’s ‘neutral chain’
Bitcoin has established itself as a digital store of value, but Ethereum is focused on powering the infrastructure that industries moving into crypto will use for the foreseeable future.
Fundstrat co-founder and BitMine Chairman Tom Lee is one of those who has endorsed Ethereum as a “truly neutral chain” to be favored by not only Wall Street but also the WHITE House.
“If you think about how Wall Street operates, they will only wanna do and operate on a neutral chain,” Lee said, during Korea Blockchain Week 2025’s Impact conference on Wednesday.
Lee cited how the U.S. government under the TRUMP administration has shown explicit pro-ETH leanings, and through bills like the CLARITY and GENIUS Act, has been creating federal frameworks that favor Ethereum’s ecosystem for proof-of-human tech and decentralized payments.
“When I look at that, combined with agentic AI and robots that are really gonna create the need for a token economy for robots, a lot of that will happen on Ethereum,” Lee said. “In fact, President Trump today just talked about how he needs proof-of-human to protect us, and a lot of that work is going to be done on Ethereum.”
Lee, who engineered BitMine’s transformation into an ETH treasury vehicle, has said he sees the possibility of Ethereum entering a “super cycle” that WOULD last 10 to 15 years. He expects the token to surpass previous highs and end the year between $10,000 and $12,000, but he believes it will go much higher.
ETH DATs are on the rise
Digital asset treasuries (DATs) were once mostly Bitcoin-centric. However, they are now allocating to Ether at scale, creating structural demand that reportedly exceeds net new supply.
According to analyst Max Shannon, “ETH treasuries are no longer a side story” and are becoming a structural pillar in crypto’s capital markets.”
According to a report from Bitwise Asset Management, that demand is reinforced by real yield from transaction fees and maximal extractable value (MEV), which deepens ether’s scarcity narrative.
The firm also highlighted the diversity of the strategies these treasuries use, ranging from corporate accumulation and staking to foundations divesting Ether to fund ecosystem development.
That diversity has confirmed cryptocurrency’s dual nature as both a reserve asset and a productive, yield-bearing instrument, the report also said.
In the NEAR future, Bitwise is anticipating a consolidation, with “mega whale” and “whale” DATs dominating flows.
Like Tom Lee, the firm also believes Ether is being positioned not just as a hedge or speculative play, but as a programmable treasury asset with the ability to LINK corporate finance with on-chain economics.
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