Tom Lee Reads Tea Leaves in the ETH/BTC Chart, Decides Crypto's Back on the Menu 🍵

Ether climbed to 0.02858 BTC this week, breaking above a resistance level that had held since June, according to Bitmine chairman Tom Lee, who described the move as evidence that the crypto market is turning a corner. Lee has tracked the ETH/BTC ratio for months as a barometer for the wider market and framed the breakout as the start of a shift already in motion. Traders often treat the ratio as a proxy for risk appetite across altcoins, and a sustained climb would suggest capital rotating out of Bitcoin into higher-beta tokens.

Lee tied the rise to growth in stablecoins, tokenization, and new Ethereum spinoff projects, while also pointing to falling oil prices and progress on the CLARITY Act as supportive factors. "There are reasons for ETH/BTC price ratio to rise in 2H2026, in short, ETH is money narrative likely gains traction," Lee said, writing on X on July 2, 2026. He reiterated the call from the CYRL Stage at the Prince Park Tower Tokyo during WebX_Asia on July 13, 2026, telling attendees to keep an eye on the ratio as a "signal of a revival of crypto."

Bitmine has been a heavy accumulator of ether throughout the period, though Lee recently indicated the aggressive accumulation phase is nearing an end. He also attributed a separate ether selloff earlier this quarter to routine quarter-end window dressing rather than weakening fundamentals. Spot ether funds posted a seven-week outflow streak in late June, a trend that has only partly reversed since.

The case is not without counterweights. The ETH/BTC ratio reached 0.15 only briefly at its 2017 peak and has remained below that level ever since, and Lee's $250,000 ether target would imply a ratio more than 25 times that 2017 high at current Bitcoin prices. The pair still sits 7.72% lower over the past three months even after this week's move, leaving