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Ahmed Barakat
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In recent news about Ethereum, Tom Lee of Fundstrat argues that the next big move for Ethereum has nothing to do with crypto-native ideas, and everything to do with institutional capital that is already being used and built.
Writing for Bitmine’s July President’s message, Lee cited BlackRock BUIDL, JPMorgan MONY, and Robinhood Chain as concrete evidence that Wall Street has gone from watching to building on the Ethereum platform. The price of ETH is currently around $1,880, about 60% below its 2025 peak near $5,000.
The difference between that increase and the current levels is the main question that Lee addresses. His reading is that it shows a change in governance, not an architectural ceiling, the first period of ICOs, NFTs, ETFs, and stablecoins is over, and the organizations that are now building on Ethereum represent different needs that have a long term and large dams.
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Lee’s case is centered on names that move markets in traditional economies. BlackRock BUIDL, a Treasury fund, now has about $2.6 billion in assets and has earned Moody’s highest rating (Moody’s listed).
JPMorgan MONY expanded the banking push that started with Onyx in 2020, adding another school vehicle to the Ethereum ecosystem.
Electric Capital’s data cited by Lee places about 6,000 developers on the EVM stack, putting Ethereum first among all chains of new developers, a metric that is more important for organizations that evaluate the risk of the platform in the long term than short-term price increases.
Wall Street is building on Ethereum, Lee argues in the Chairman’s message, distinguishing the 2022 crypto bear-market from institutional-driven development.
In 2025 and 2026, the crypto base will continue to grow even though the price of ETH has dropped significantly from its peak. That distinction between on-chain transactions and property value is the basis of his theory. To find out how much it has over the past year, add the history of the BlackRock ETF These are the key financial indicators of the BlackRock ETF.
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Robinhood Chain: ETH as a Settlement Coin
The Robinhood Chain, which launched on July 1st on Arbitrum, gave Lee one of his most impressive deals. After two weeks of going live, it ranked third among all networks with a DEX volume of about $811 million per day, surpassing only Ethereum according to DefiLlama. Ethereum has also taken this position, and the amount of Robinhood Chain has exceeded $ 1 billion.
In the Chairman’s message, Lee argues that Robinhood Chain’s use of ETH (as described in his article on network payments and how they work) makes Ethereum a meaningful use case.
The counterargument is equally straightforward. Artemis CEO Jon Ma has noted that Robinhood Chain’s volume growth is often driven by meme currency, not traffic.
And the fees that are cut against Lee’s production, Robinhood Chain pays the basic Ethereum part of almost everything for the fee. The high DEX volume on the chain from Arbitrum does not translate 1-for-1 into ETH burning at the L1 level.
The Amazon Analogy, and the Conflict It Brings
Lee elaborates on the current ETH structure through the analogy of Amazon: the stock traded around $6 adjusted for 12 years before rising to $241 as its total marketable market expanded beyond what the original marketers could imitate. He also explains the psychology surrounding traders at depressed prices.
It also accepts bearish reading directly. ETH has failed twice at the level of $ 5,000, and skeptics argue that the top of the range can reduce around this.
The conflict of interest inherent in Lee’s review should be acknowledged directly. Bitmine’s latest weekly disclosure shows 5.77 million ETH, about 4.8% of the 120.7 million total. Lee is one of the biggest beneficiaries if institutionalization proves his point.
This does not invalidate his argument, but it reframes any value he assigns as coming from the owner who has a significant financial stake in the outcome.
The architecture that Lee mentions is real. BlackRock BUIDL’s ratings for Moody’s, JPMorgan’s MONY fund, and Robinhood Chain’s initial numbers are confirmed facts, not speculation.
Whether it is enough to drive ETH from $ 1,880 back to $ 5,000 and beyond depends on whether institutional funds deepen from commercial production to the needs of the secondary market, a step that none of these programs have yet shown on a large scale.
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