Crypto: Tom Lee predicts a spectacular rise for Ethereum thanks to tokenization

Ethereum is establishing itself as a new central player in global finance. Driven by the rise of tokenization, blockchain is now attracting the attention of Wall Street. Major institutions like BlackRock and Robinhood are actively exploring this technology, marking a turning point in the adoption of cryptos. For Tom Lee, co-founder of Fundstrat, Ethereum is becoming a key infrastructure of the financial system. A dynamic which, according to him, could cause the price of the asset to rise to unprecedented levels.

Tokenization: a lever of transformation for Ethereum

Tom Lee, co-founder of Fundstrat Global Advisors, revealed on CNBC this week the growing role of Ethereum in institutional finance.

According to him, blockchain is no longer limited to decentralized applications or NFTs, but is becoming a real technological base for traditional financial markets. “ Wall Street wants to tokenize everything it can“, he declared on the showPower Lunchevoking the initiatives already undertaken by heavyweights like BlackRock and Robinhood.

He believes that Ethereum is well positioned to capture this emerging demand: “theEther is establishing itself as a benchmark financial infrastructure“.

This development is verified in the most recent data published by RWA.xyz, which show strong growth in tokenized real assets during this year. Ethereum largely dominates this growing segment, reinforcing its leading status.

Here is the main elements to remember:

• The total value of tokenized RWAs increased from $5.6 billion at the start of 2025 to $18.9 billion in December;

• Ethereum alone concentrates more than $12 billion of these assets, far ahead of other blockchains like Solana, Arbitrum or BNB Chain;

• The main segment of RWA is represented by US sovereign debt of approximately $8.5 billion;

• Currently, the DTCC (Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation) has announced that it wants to tokenize a portion of the Treasury bonds held via its subsidiary Depository Trust Company, on the Canton Network;

• Furthermore, Ethereum remains the leading blockchain for stablecoins, with approximately $170 billion issued to date.

This data confirms that tokenization is now beyond the experimental stage. It is part of a dynamic of concrete institutional adoption, in which Ethereum plays a key role as a trust infrastructure.

Tom Lee expects Ethereum price to explode by 2026

Beyond the findings, Tom Lee presented a particularly ambitious price projection for Ethereum.

“We believe Ether can reach between $7,000 and $9,000 by early 2026“, he said during his speech. For him, this evolution would only be the first step, since “price could rise to $20,000 as adoption widens“. This scenario is based on a hypothesis: the more tokenization progresses, the more Ethereum establishes itself as a trusted infrastructure, and the more demand for the native asset of this network grows.

Tom Lee is not his first bet on the Ethereum crypto. He is also the President of BitMine Immersion Technologies, an ETH-focused treasury business, which holds over 4 million Ether.

This important exhibition gives weight to his convictions, but also shows that his analysis is not disinterested. Furthermore, he remains bullish on bitcoin, which he describes as “true store of value» with a target of $200,000 for 2026, while distinguishing Ethereum's growing utility role in financial markets.

Ethereum's trajectory oscillates between institutional ambition and structural challenges. While Tom Lee is banking on mass adoption of crypto, Vitalik Buterin is pleading for a simpler Ethereum. A balance to find, as the platform becomes central in tokenization strategies.