[DigitalToday reporter Jinju Hong] Tom Lee, co-founder of Fundstrat Global Advisors and chairman of BitMine Immersion Technologies, forecast that bitcoin (BTC) has not yet peaked and could break its all-time high as soon as this month.

On Jan. 5, blockchain outlet CoinDesk reported that Lee appeared on CNBC's Squawk Box and reiterated his bullish outlook for crypto and the broader stock market. He stressed that bitcoin “has not yet moved past its peak.”

“We initially expected the peak to form before December, but now we think bitcoin can record an all-time high by the end of January 2026,” he said. “You should not assume bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptocurrencies have already reached their peaks.”

The forecast follows a broad crypto pullback at the end of 2025. Lee pointed to January as another potential breakout point and said it could be an important upside stretch within a long-term bull market.

Lee previously forecast in August last year that bitcoin would break above $200,000 by year-end. But CoinDesk data showed bitcoin only reached an all-time high of about $126,000 in October and traded at about $88,500 on Dec. 31, 2025.

Even so, Lee said his long-term bullish crypto scenario is unchanged. He projected that 2026 would be a volatile but ultimately constructive year. He warned that short-term turmoil could emerge in the first half as institutional investors rebalance positions.

“2026 will be split into two halves,” Lee said. “The first half could be difficult because of institutional rebalancing and a ‘strategic reset’ in the crypto market, but that process will be the foundation for a major rally expected in the second half.” He described the reset as a natural digestion process after years of sharp gains across risk assets, not a signal of structural weakness.

Lee also offered a particularly optimistic outlook for ethereum. He argued that ethereum is entering a multi-year expansion phase, a so-called “supercycle,” similar to bitcoin's 2017 to 2021 period.

Lee previously forecast that ethereum could reach $15,000 by December 2025, but the actual 2025 peak was $4,830 and it traded at about $3,300 at year-end. Even so, he has maintained a bullish stance, recently buying more ethereum through his crypto mining company BitMine Immersion Technologies. Current holdings total about 4.14 million tokens.

Lee called ethereum investment not a speculative bet but a core element of a financial strategy. “Securing an asset that can rise more than tenfold is a strategically essential choice for a modern corporate treasury,” he said.

Lee also made an aggressive forecast for the stock market as well as cryptocurrencies. Citing a recovery in corporate earnings and productivity gains driven by artificial intelligence (AI), he expected the S&P 500 to reach 7,700 by the end of 2026.

“When you consider U.S. economic fundamentals and AI-led productivity improvements, the S&P 500 has room to rise to 7,700 by the end of 2026,” he said. “That is supported by earnings per share (EPS) flows that are much stronger than market bears think.” He added that short-term pullbacks should be seen as buying opportunities rather than warning signals.