Tom Lee—From Wall Street Strategist to Ethereum's Largest Bull

Author: Climber, CryptoPulseLabs

In the past few years, if you had to pick one person from Wall Street who understands how to frame Ethereum as a macro asset, Tom Lee would definitely be at the top of the list.

For many traditional financial investors, he is the strategist who repeatedly emphasizes in the media that “U.S. stocks will rise, Bitcoin will rise, Ethereum will rise”; but for crypto market participants, he’s more like an alternative narrative accelerant. Whenever the market is hesitant, watching, or in a low-emotion phase, he often uses stronger language and more aggressive target prices to bring Bitcoin and Ethereum back into the spotlight of mainstream finance.

But Tom Lee’s influence didn’t appear out of nowhere. He didn’t start in the crypto space or build his reputation through social media; he is a classic Wall Street researcher. Having worked long-term in investment banks and research institutions, specializing in macro cycles, capital flows, and valuation models, he was already a regular in major U.S. financial media before entering the crypto field. It’s this combination of traditional finance background and crypto asset conviction that makes him one of the few who can be heard on both sides.

1. Wall Street Background: The Standard Path from Researcher to Strategist

Tom Lee’s career start isn’t mysterious; he followed a very standard Wall Street path: research, strategy, macro analysis, client communication.

What’s different is that many strategists become more cautious later in their careers, but Tom Lee’s style is the opposite—he becomes more willing to express clear directions and even turn predictions into a communicable product.

Early on, Tom Lee held positions at several U.S. financial institutions, most notably as Chief Stock Strategist at J.P. Morgan.

During that time, he developed two key skills: first, how to translate complex macro variables—such as interest rates, inflation, the dollar, credit spreads, corporate earnings—into actionable investment views; second, how to clearly explain a trend to institutional clients and get them to buy in.

This experience is crucial because the crypto market is fundamentally narrative-driven; prices are often not driven by financial statements but by macro expectations, capital structure, and risk appetite. Tom Lee’s strength is translating macro language into market language.

Therefore, his rise to fame is rooted not in crypto influencers but as a macro storyteller.

He became widely recognized after leaving the traditional investment banking system. Around 2014, he co-founded Fundstrat Global Advisors, commonly known as Fundstrat.

This is an independent research firm that operates at the intersection of macro research, investment strategy, and market consulting, serving both institutional funds and broader market investors.

The founding of Fundstrat reflected a shift in the era: Wall Street research was moving from traditional investment banks toward independent research firms, with strategists no longer just serving bank clients but directly providing market insights.

It was during this phase that Tom Lee gradually built his personal brand—his views are distinctive, his logic macro-driven, and his communication suitable for dissemination.

In Fundstrat’s early research, his main battleground was still the U.S. stock market. Tom Lee’s long-term bullish stance on U.S. equities is very firm; he repeatedly emphasizes that the market rewards long-term holders and provides clear judgments at key points.

While his predictions are not always precise, he has an advantage: he is good at breaking down the market into understandable frameworks rather than merely making price forecasts.

2. Transition to Crypto: One of the “Wall Street-style” drivers of Bitcoin and Ethereum narratives

Tom Lee’s role in the crypto market can be summarized in one sentence: he is one of the people who brought Bitcoin into the Wall Street narrative system.

Many assume that traditional finance’s entry into crypto is driven by short-term profits. But Tom Lee’s logic leans more toward macro asset allocation.

He views Bitcoin as a new type of risk asset and a hedge against monetary system uncertainties. Especially during periods of global monetary easing and abundant dollar liquidity, he often analyzes Bitcoin alongside gold and U.S. tech stocks within the same framework.

One of his most frequently cited views is that Bitcoin’s long-term price is influenced by global liquidity and institutional capital inflows, rather than just retail sentiment. In other words, he’s not talking about crypto trading strategies but asset pricing logic.

For example, during the 2017 Bitcoin bull market, Tom Lee’s public views became increasingly prominent in mainstream financial media. His bullish stance on Bitcoin was very aggressive, with many high target prices forecasted.

This style isn’t unusual in the crypto world, but among Wall Street strategists, it’s quite rare. As a result, he quickly became a media favorite—combining the authority of traditional finance with the exaggerated narratives of the crypto space.

But those who are always bullish will always face skepticism—whether during crypto downturns or Ethereum’s ongoing declines.

The more famous Tom Lee becomes, the more controversy surrounds him. Especially during bear markets in 2018 and 2022, his long-term bullish stance was often mocked. On social media, he’s frequently labeled as “perma-bull” or “top prediction king.”

However, putting his role into a broader narrative, such controversy is normal. Tom Lee isn’t a short-term trader; he’s more like a macro narrative analyst. His job isn’t to predict exact prices but to provide a long-term framework.

He often emphasizes core logic such as Bitcoin’s scarcity and long-term supply-demand dynamics, the impact of global monetary policy cycles on risk assets, valuation re-pricing driven by institutional capital inflows, and the substitution effect of a weakening dollar and rising inflation expectations.

These ideas aren’t new, but Tom Lee’s strength lies in presenting them in a Wall Street style that’s suitable for TV and broad dissemination.

In other words, his predictions may be wrong, but his narratives tend to be memorable.

3. ETH—Tom Lee’s view of on-chain financials as the underlying asset

Many people are optimistic about ETH because of its technology, ecosystem, developers, Layer 2 solutions, etc. But Tom Lee’s bullish case for ETH is more financialized; he approaches Ethereum with valuation methods similar to traditional assets.

In traditional finance, the dollar is the settlement currency, cash is central in U.S. stocks, and traffic is the underlying resource on the internet.

From Tom Lee’s perspective, Ethereum plays a role similar to a “layer of on-chain settlement.”

You’ll find that stablecoin transactions, real-world assets (RWA), on-chain lending, and other applications fundamentally require a trusted settlement layer. Although many chains compete for this role, Ethereum’s long-term advantages are its top security, ecosystem, and institutional recognition.

For Tom Lee, ETH isn’t just a project token but a core asset of underlying financial infrastructure. As on-chain finance continues to grow, ETH’s value capture has a long-term foundation.

At the same time, ETH is more like a productive asset rather than a purely speculative one—this is a key reason for Tom Lee’s optimism.

Bitcoin’s value logic is closer to digital gold—scarcity, anti-inflation, store of value.

ETH’s value logic resembles a productive asset—network fees generate revenue, which are burned to reduce supply, staking mechanisms give ETH a “yield” attribute, and ecosystem growth boosts on-chain activity, increasing demand.

This structure makes ETH, in his view, more like an asset with endogenous cash flow—similar to a new type of internet infrastructure stock.

As markets become more institutionalized, investors tend to prefer assets that explain their value capture pathways rather than those relying solely on consensus-driven price increases.

Additionally, ETH has clearer supply-demand reinforcement mechanisms—namely, deflation and staking.

After Ethereum’s transition to PoS, two critical mechanisms emerged: staking reduces circulating supply (lock-up), and burning reduces total supply (deflation). This means that as long as network activity remains steady, ETH’s supply-demand balance could stay tight long-term.

This is rare in traditional assets—stocks can buy back shares, but only if profits allow; gold supply is stable but cannot be reduced. ETH’s supply dynamically changes with network activity, creating a self-reinforcing economic model.

Finally, and most importantly, ETH is the core asset under a compliant narrative, making it easier for institutions to accept.

Tom Lee has long emphasized that the crypto market will ultimately move toward institutionalization and regulation. Once ETFs are available, crypto assets will enter the traditional asset allocation system.

For institutions, Bitcoin is easiest to understand because its narrative is simple. Once ETH is incorporated into a compliant framework, its appeal will rapidly increase—because it’s not just a store of value but the underlying asset of on-chain economy.

Institutions prefer assets with explainable value sources, sustainable demand, mature market depth, and clearer regulatory boundaries. ETH is gradually meeting these conditions, which Tom Lee repeatedly highlights. As the crypto market enters the next phase, ETH’s valuation approach will increasingly resemble that of traditional assets rather than pure speculation.

Conclusion

So, Tom Lee’s core isn’t just bullishness but understanding cycles. He’s not a “call-the-market” influencer in crypto but a strategist who studies crypto assets within a macro framework. His long-term optimism stems from an understanding of risk asset cycles, and his preference for ETH comes from his view of on-chain financial infrastructure as the underlying asset.

In his eyes, Bitcoin is more like digital gold—an indicator of macro liquidity and risk appetite—while Ethereum is the core asset of the on-chain financial system, directly benefiting from the expansion of on-chain economy.

In a noisy market, Tom Lee offers a more institutional and long-term perspective—precisely the skill many ordinary investors lack.