Tom Lee: The crypto "mini winter" may have ended, and ETH could surge to $60,000

According to Cointelegraph, Bitmine Chairman Tom Lee stated at the Paris Blockchain Week 2026 conference that the current decline in the crypto market resembles a "mini crypto winter," which may be nearing its end, and believes that risk assets have bottomed out amid "bad news" such as geopolitical conflicts.

He pointed out that Ethereum is expected to emerge from a long-term consolidation and will benefit from the trend of tokenization and the development of on-chain AI (agentic AI) applications in the future. If his market assumptions hold, the price of ETH could reach $60,000, with a long-term fair value potentially reaching around $62,000 (based on its estimate that Ethereum will achieve about 1/4 of Bitcoin's market value).

Lee emphasized that the U.S. stock market has already seen a bottom and is driving the recovery of risk assets, while this round of crypto correction is a rare "non-stock market synchronized bear cycle." He also mentioned that the market often forms a bottom after significant negative events such as wars. As of now, ETH has dropped about 43% from its peak in October 2025, and the market remains in a clearly volatile range.