Despite Ethereum's sharp pullback and the macro pressures currently weighing on it, BitMine chairman and Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee is maintaining his bullish long-term thesis on the asset. Lee projected earlier this month that ETH could reach between $9,000 and $12,000 by the end of 2026, a forecast that implies a roughly four to five times increase from current levels around $2,116. He described the current weakness as short-term tactical noise, arguing that the structural drivers behind Ethereum remain firmly in place regardless of what oil prices or geopolitical tensions are doing in the near term.

The two forces Lee points to as the bigger story for Ethereum through 2026 are real-world asset tokenization and agentic AI. Both themes have featured prominently in his prior ETH forecasts and continue to underpin his conviction that Ethereum is positioned to capture enormous value as financial infrastructure moves onchain and AI agents begin operating within decentralized networks. JPMorgan's recent filing to launch a tokenized money market fund on Ethereum and Franklin Templeton's partnership with Ondo Finance to bring tokenized ETFs onchain are exactly the kinds of institutional moves Lee's thesis anticipates. For investors willing to look through the current macro noise, his argument is straightforward: the short-term price action is being driven by oil and geopolitics, while the long-term trajectory is being shaped by forces that are still very much accelerating.