Fundstrat’s Tom Lee has echoed the sentiment that the digital asset treasury (DAT) hype may be coming to an end but remains bullish on Ether, having purchased $1.5 billion worth since the recent market crash.
BitMine Immersion Technologies has acquired a total of 379,271 Ether (ETH), worth nearly $1.5 billion, following the record crypto market liquidation event last weekend. These acquisitions occurred in three separate purchases: 202,037 ETH immediately after the weekend crash, 104,336 ETH on Thursday, and 72,898 ETH on Saturday. This data comes from on-chain analytics provided by Arkham Intelligence and ‘BMNR Bullz,’ which tracks the firm’s purchases, although BitMine has yet to officially confirm the acquisitions.
BitMine is currently the world’s largest Ether treasury company, holding over 3 million ETH — roughly 2.5% of the entire Ether supply — valued at $11.7 billion. The firm is already halfway toward its target of owning 5% of the total ETH supply and only began accumulating the asset in early July, when Ethereum was trading around the $2,500 mark.
“Ethereum could flip Bitcoin similar to how Wall Street and equities flipped gold post-1971,” Lee told ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood on Thursday, sharing his latest bullish outlook on the asset.
### Is the Digital Asset Treasury Bubble Bursting?
Despite his strong stance on Ether, Lee also suggested that the digital asset treasury bubble might have burst. He pointed out that many DATs are currently trading below their net asset value (NAV), which represents the worth of their underlying crypto holdings.
“If that’s not already a bubble burst, how would that bubble burst?” Lee said during an interview with Fortune on Thursday.
Supporting this view, research firm 10x Research reported on Saturday that major DATs such as Metaplanet and Strategy were trading near or below their NAVs. However, they noted that this scenario is not all bad news. DATs with strong capital bases and trading-savvy management teams “may still generate meaningful alpha.”
Huobi founder Li Lin is reportedly looking to capitalize on this opportunity and has raised about $1 billion as part of a strategy to invest in an Ether treasury.
### “Gold Envy” Keeping Crypto Prices Down
Lee shared further insights with CNBC after trading hours on Friday, explaining that investors are still “licking their wounds” following the recent record leverage flush in the crypto markets. He also mentioned a bit of “gold envy” since gold has been a “huge performer” this year.
“This is not the top of the crypto cycle, but leveraged longs in crypto are near record lows, so I think we’re at the basement and working our way back up,” Lee remarked.
Currently, crypto markets are down approximately 15% from their record high on October 7, while gold prices have retreated nearly 3% from their peak on Thursday.
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