Tom Lee’s 1996 Crypto Call: Early Dip Buyers Positioned for Massive Wins

It's 1996 all over again—at least according to one of crypto's most vocal bulls. Fundstrat's Tom Lee just dropped a market analogy that's got traders scrambling for historical charts and calculators.

The Dot-Com Parallel

Lee isn't whispering. He's shouting the comparison from the digital rooftops. The current crypto landscape, with its gut-wrenching volatility and regulatory growing pains, mirrors the wild early days of the internet. Back then, skeptics called it a fad. Early believers who bought the fear? They built fortunes.

The Dip Is The Gift

His thesis cuts straight to the chase: panic is profit in disguise. Every major sell-off, every wave of negative headlines, creates the very entry points that define generational wealth. It's a brutal game of emotional fortitude—buying when the crowd is screaming sell.

Timing vs. Time In

Forget pinning the absolute bottom. Lee's argument bypasses short-term noise for long-term trajectory. The winning move isn't about nailing a single trade; it's about recognizing a seismic shift in global finance and having the conviction to stay positioned. It's a bet on infrastructure, not just speculation.

The message lands like a sledgehammer to conventional portfolio strategy—much to the dismay of every financial advisor still charging 2% to underperform an index. In crypto's version of 1996, the early adopters aren't just participating; they're building the new market itself. The only question left is who's brave enough to load up while everyone else is checking their account balance and sweating.

Tom Lee’s Advice on Crypto Being in Its 1996 Era

In his recent interview, Tom Lee shared that if investors are buying Bitcoin today, they are still early in this race. Explaining this bit in detail, Lee shared how Bitcoin’s wallet stats are similar to 1996 levels, when the internet was still in its infancy, and later exploded in a way that shook the world in the most promising way.

Lee’s comments above can be linked to one of his other perspectives, in which he shares how tokenization is bound to reshape crypto. In another one of his video snippets, Lee shared how Wall Street wants to tokenize everything, and once it does, crypto prices are expected to blast, revolutionizing the sector in the process.

"WALL STREET WANTS TO TOKENIZE EVERYTHING"—Tom Lee

Wall Street isn't just watching crypto anymore; major institutions like BlackRock and JPMorgan are building the future of finance directly on Ethereum, leveraging smart contracts and tokenization.

It's like the old saying… pic.twitter.com/ShANIlAzBV

Lee’s Future Crypto Calls

Despite the occasional crypto price dips, Lee stayed adamant, adding how Bitcoin and ethereum are both primed to explore a new high before the year’s end.

Tom Lee says Ethereum is reaching a bottom and Bitcoin can make a new all-time high before the end of January 2026$ETH $BTC $USDC pic.twitter.com/wGkzCyKnmr

Lee later shared how both tokens are now entering a supercycle. The fundstrat’s chief expects the assets to show real progress sometime soon.

Tom Lee on CNBC's The Exchange:

-He says crypto prices are closely tied to the ISM

-ISM back above 50 has lined up with "super cycle" moves in bitcoin and Ethereum

-He says anyone betting on a down year from the four year cycle is wrong and expects new highs early pic.twitter.com/0vYPcLj5wx