In the lastest Ethereum news, Fundstrat's Tom Lee is arguing that Ethereum's next major move has nothing to do with crypto-native speculation, and everything to do with institutional capital that is already deployed and building.
Writing in Bitmine's July Chairman's message, Lee pointed to BlackRock BUIDL, JPMorgan MONY, and Robinhood Chain as concrete evidence that Wall Street has moved from observation to construction on Ethereum's rails. The ETH price currently sits near $1,880, about 60% below its 2025 peak near $5,000.
The gap between that peak and current levels is the central question Lee addresses. His read is that it reflects a regime change, not a structural ceiling, the first era of ICOs, NFTs, ETFs, and stablecoins has run its course, and the institutions now building on Ethereum represent a fundamentally different demand base with longer time horizons and larger capital pools.
Lee's institutional case rests on names that move markets in traditional finance. BlackRock BUIDL, the asset manager's tokenized Treasury fund, now holds roughly $2.6 billion and has earned Moody's top money-market rating (Moody's cited).
JPMorgan MONY extended the bank's tokenization push that began with Onyx in 2020, adding another institutional-grade vehicle to the Ethereum ecosystem.
Electric Capital data cited by Lee puts nearly 6,000 developers on the EVM stack, ranking Ethereum first among all chains for new builders, a metric that matters more to institutions evaluating long-term platform risk than short-term price momentum.
Wall Street is building on Ethereum, Lee argues in the Chairman's message, contrasting 2022's crypto bear-market backdrop with continued institution-led development.
In 2025 and 2026, institutional crypto infrastructure has continued to expand even as ETH price fell sharply from its cycle highs. That divergence between on-chain institutional activity and spot price is the core of his thesis. For more on how BlackRock's ETF flows are reinforcing this dynamic, see this analysis of BlackRock ETF inflows and their ETH price implications.
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Robinhood Chain, launched July 1 on Arbitrum, handed Lee one of his more striking data points. Within two weeks of going live, it ranked third among all networks by DEX volume at about $811 million daily, briefly surpassing Ethereum itself according to DefiLlama. Ethereum has since reclaimed that position, and cumulative Robinhood Chain volume has crossed $1 billion.