If you have been nervously watching your crypto portfolio turn red recently, you are definitely not alone. But while retail investors are panicking, some major institutional players are treating this downturn as a shopping spree.
Tom Lee, Chairman of BitMine Immersion Technologies, just announced that, despite his company sitting on significant paper losses, it remains incredibly bullish.
Lee openly declared that 2026 will be a “defining year” for the network, signaling that the current pain might just be the prelude to a new era of growth for the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency.
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Why This Matters for Ethereum Price and Investors
It is easy to say you believe in Ethereum. It is much harder to keep buying while Ethereum price is sliding. BitMine just did exactly that, adding another 45,759 ETH worth about $91 million even as the market drifts toward key support.
That is not cautious positioning. That is conviction.
TOM LEE'S BITMINE BOUGHT $90,830,000 WORTH OF ETHEREUM.
IT NOW HOLDS $8.68 BILLION WORTH OF $ETH.#Bitcoin #Ethereum #Crypto #ETH #BitcoinNews #CryptoNews #TomLee pic.twitter.com/sAzxXlNHAQ
— Crypto News Hunters
(@CryptoNewsHntrs) February 17, 2026
Right now, their Ethereum treasury sits deeply underwater. The market value is far below what they paid. For newer investors, this is what high conviction investing actually looks like. Buying when sentiment is ugly, not when charts look perfect.
The comparison is to past crypto winters, like 2018 and 2022. Those periods felt brutal in real time. But they later marked major accumulation zones before sharp recoveries.
The risk is obvious. The payoff, if the cycle turns, can be equally dramatic.
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What Tom Lee’s Analysis Shows
So why is Lee so aggressive about 2026? He believes three major forces are about to reshape Ethereum’s role in the global system.
JUST IN: TOM LEE SAYS THE CRYPTO BOTTOM IS IN!
#Crypto #Bitcoin #Altcoins #MarketNews #TomLee pic.twitter.com/0GXAmzmDRt
— Crypto News Hunters
First is tokenization. He expects Wall Street to push real-world assets like stocks and real estate onto the blockchain. That shift would turn Ethereum into core settlement infrastructure, not just a speculative network.
Second is AI-driven payments. The idea is simple but powerful. Software pays software automatically, without banks in the middle. If AI agents start transacting at scale, they need a neutral and reliable base layer.
Third is proof of human standards. As AI improves at mimicking people, verifying real identities on scalable Layer-2 networks becomes critical. Infrastructure upgrades and public testnets are already pointing in that direction.
Lee’s view is that Ethereum neutrality and consistent uptime make it the natural backbone for this next phase. He is not betting on hype. He is betting that infrastructure will become indispensable.
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The post Tom Lee Calls 2026 a ‘Defining Year’ for Ethereum: Here’s What That Means appeared first on 99Bitcoins.
