Tom Lee's Ethereum price prediction is retracted

Welcome to US Crypto News Morning Briefing. A critical overview of the most important developments in cryptocurrencies of the day.

Grab a coffee as Ethereum returns to the headlines with big predictions. Some say the next surge is just around the corner, while others warn that hidden assumptions and long timelines could make the hype more complicated than expected.

Today’s Crypto News: Analyst Rejects Tom Lee’s $60,000 Ethereum Prediction

Tom Lee of Fundstrat recently made headlines with his bold prediction that Ethereum (ETH) could reach $60,000 in the near future.

Crypto industry executives cited the migration of real-world assets (RWA) to blockchain as a key driver of this change.

“The total size of the world’s financial markets is 200 trillion, maybe even more. How much of that will be on the blockchain? According to Larry Fink, the idea is to move 100% of this onto the blockchain. That means trillions of dollars of assets will be moved onto the first layer blockchain,” he said.

Lee shared his views in an interview, positioning Ethereum as a potential global financial payments layer.

Lee said Ethereum’s market capitalization of about $440 billion pales in comparison to the $200-300 trillion in global financial assets, including stocks, bonds and real estate.

Lee suggests that moving even a small portion (0.5% to 1%) of these assets on-chain could increase Ethereum’s network value several times over. In his opinion, this justifies his $60,000 goal.

He also highlighted Ethereum’s strong validator network, decade-long uptime, and alignment with Wall Street’s growing interest in tokenization as key tailwinds supporting long-term growth.

However, cryptocurrency analyst BitWu criticized Lee’s predictions, saying they relied too much on what he called the “classic RWA narrative.” The analyst warned that Lee’s model is based on two hidden assumptions.

All real-world assets will be anchored to the Ethereum mainnet, and
The price of Ethereum will directly reflect the volume of payments.

BitWu argues that while both assumptions are “reasonable,” they oversimplify the unique combination of macroeconomic factors, regulatory clarity, and infrastructure maturity that will ultimately determine Ethereum’s trajectory.

“60,000 USD of ETH is fine (but not this year). I think it’s possible in about 3 years! Why would I say that? I think the true breakout point for RWA will probably be in 2026-2028, depending on the macroeconomic interest rate cycle + regulatory clarity + on-chain infrastructure (especially L2 and compliant chains) maturity,” BitWu explained.

He emphasized that the RWA trend is less about short-term price spikes and more about Ethereum’s long-term status as a fundamental financial infrastructure.

Ethereum’s long-term promise and short-term hype

In the interview, Lee also highlighted Ethereum’s unique position as a smart contract blockchain that enables tokenization beyond a simple digital dollar.

He highlighted stablecoins, which enable installment payments and transaction finality, as a breakthrough product this year. Based on this, Fundstrat executives suggested that future tokenization could extend to stocks, bonds, real estate, and even prediction markets.

Both Lee and BitWu agree on Ethereum’s long-term potential, but their disagreement lies in timing and scale.

On the other hand, Lee frames the opportunity as mathematically certain once an adoption occurs. Meanwhile, BitWu warns that implementation will be gradual and limited by regulatory, macroeconomic, and technological realities.

Meanwhile, this is not the first time that Tom Lee’s Ethereum predictions have been dismantled. In a US Crypto News publication in late September, Andrew Kang challenged Tom Lee’s bullish ETH theory, calling it “economic ignorance.”

today’s chart

Ethereum (ETH) price performance. Source: TradingView

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Here’s a rundown of US crypto news to follow today.

Top 5 altcoins with important events worth noting this week: ADA, INJ, LINK, LDO, XRP.
Crypto funds excluding Solana and XRP suffered losses of $1.2 billion due to the US economic downturn.
Three macro signals have reversed, and November and December have been decided.
Green Light for ETF? Government Shutdown Agreement Could Cause Massive Rise in XRP.
Three indicators have emerged that hint at the possibility of altcoin season coming this November.
The man who once made the state of Ohio pay taxes in crypto just lost $1.2 million on Bitcoin options.
Three notable tokens are scheduled to be unlocked in the second week of November 2025.