Ethereum could reach $6,000 by the end of 2026, according to Tom Lee, co-founder of Fundstrat and chairman of Bitmine Immersion Technologies (NASDAQ: BMNR).
Lee made the prediction on the Milk Road Show, arguing that the Ethereum-to-Bitcoin ratio would rise from its current level of around 0.03 to 0.04 by year-end.
At that ratio, with Bitcoin trading at $150,000, Ether would be valued at approximately $6,000, a level Lee himself described as “very conservative.”
He pointed out that the Ethereum-to-Bitcoin ratio reached nearly 0.08 during the 2021 cycle, suggesting the current target leaves significant room to the upside.
Unlike 2021, which was driven largely by meme coins and NFTs, Lee argued this cycle is being powered by tokenization and agentic AI, forces he believes justify an even higher ratio than the previous peak.
“Maybe it even goes to 0.25. Maybe it even goes to one,” Lee said, laying out a more expansive long-term scenario for Ethereum’s relative performance against Bitcoin.
Lee described Ethereum as “vastly, vastly undervalued” compared to its prior high of around $5,000, citing the network’s growing role in financial activity migrating onto blockchains.
He argued that legacy payment rails, built for human-to-human transactions and routed through dozens of validation systems, are structurally unable to support AI agent activity, positioning Ethereum as a natural alternative.
Lee identified the CLARITY Act as the most significant near-term catalyst for Ethereum, with a potential Senate vote expected in September, noting the legislation matters more for traditional financial institutions than for the crypto industry itself.
“If it doesn’t pass, it’s not the worst thing for crypto because the crypto industry has already shown it innovates in the absence of regulatory clarity. So I think Ethereum is going to do fine either way, but I think you’re really going to supercharge the movement if the Clarity Act passes,” Lee said.
Beyond regulation, Lee cited four-year cycle timing expected to clear in October, sidelined cash in Asia, and institutional performance chasing as additional tailwinds heading into the fourth quarter.
He noted that Ether has been the best-performing major asset since June 30, and argued that a strong close to the third quarter would pull more allocators into the market.
At the time of publication, Ethereum was trading around $2,436, down more than 2% over the prior 24 hours, amid broader market weakness across risk assets.
