Fundstrat's head of research Tom Lee (톰 리) said the cryptocurrency market, which has fallen sharply, is close to a bottoming phase and could rebound in the short term on improving fundamentals.

On Feb. 2, blockchain outlet The Crypto Basic reported that Lee appeared on CNBC's "Squawk Box" to assess current market conditions and said the recent weakness had been excessive. "If crypto fundamentals are improving, prices should follow," he said.

The cryptocurrency market has undergone a major correction in recent weeks. Bitcoin has plunged since hitting an all-time high of $126,000 in October 2025, and billions of dollars have evaporated from the market. BitMine, an Ethereum treasury company Lee is involved with, is also posting unrealised losses of about $6.95 billion.

BitMine was previously a bitcoin mining company, but shifted its strategy toward accumulating Ethereum starting in June last year. Its goal is to secure about 6 million tokens, equivalent to 5 percent of total Ethereum supply, to earn staking returns.

Lee said the recent slide was "deeper than expected." He cited early deleveraging driven by reduced leverage, capital shifts fueled by strong rallies in gold and silver, and growing U.S. policy uncertainty. In particular, he said a perception that the U.S. government is moving in a direction that picks winners and losers has increased volatility across risk assets.

Lee also noted that the gold and silver rally has been slowing, saying that could instead act positively for the crypto market. He argued that the current price weakness could be a signal pointing to a market bottom.

He said BitMine's crypto advisory model had already suggested the possibility of bitcoin correcting to $77,000 and Ethereum to around $2,400. "Further declines over the weekend used up a significant portion of the remaining bearish momentum," Lee said. He said the market was entering a bottom-building phase rather than facing another sharp plunge.

Lee's core basis was fundamentals. He said the U.S. economy is still maintaining a solid trend and that the number of active addresses on the Ethereum network is rising rapidly. He said that is an indicator that institutional investor participation is expanding as Wall Street steps up product development and network infrastructure expansion gains momentum.

"If these fundamentals hold, there is ample room for crypto prices to rebound in the short term," Lee said, viewing the current correction as a temporary pullback within a medium- to long-term uptrend.