Tom Lee: Bitcoin expectations are cooling; I'm more bullish on Ethereum, expecting it to reach $9,000-$12,000 by the end of the year.

In a recent podcast interview, Fundstrat founder Tom Lee shared his assessment of the crypto market's trajectory before the end of the year. He believes that although recent sideways movement and early holders cashing out have cooled Bitcoin's popularity, as a still under-allocated asset class, BTC still has the potential to reach $200,000 by the end of the year.

However, compared to Bitcoin, he seems more confident about Ethereum's growth potential. Lee points out that institutions, including Cathie Wood, are beginning to notice that stablecoins and tokenized gold are gradually diverting demand from BTC, and these assets all run on smart contract public chains like Ethereum. As Wall Street giants like Larry Fink push for the full on-chaining of assets, expectations for ETH's growth are being revised upwards.

Tom Lee mentioned that, according to Mark Newton, Head of Technical Strategy at Fundstrat, Ethereum could rise to $9,000 to $12,000 by January 2025, meaning that ETH is expected to double by the end of the year.