An analysis said a rotation of funds into Ethereum has already begun. Tom Lee said Ethereum could reach $10,000 within 1 to 2 years if it establishes itself as future payments and settlement infrastructure.

On Aug. 24 local time, blockchain media outlet U.Today reported that Lee recently argued market attention is shifting from bitcoin to Ethereum. He described the rotation as a structure formed over about 10 years and said Ethereum remains significantly undervalued versus bitcoin.

Lee said he is focused on more than a simple price rise. He judged Ethereum's role itself could expand substantially. He said a move to $10,000 is sufficiently possible if Ethereum becomes a core network in areas such as decentralised finance (DeFi), tokenised assets and artificial intelligence (AI), and also takes on the role of a future payments and settlement layer.

He has long presented a strongly optimistic view on Ethereum. In June, he projected Ethereum could rise to $250,000 over the long term. This time, he set a nearer-term target of $10,000 within 1 to 2 years and again stressed his existing long-term bullish view.

Ethereum's gains were also pronounced in the market. CoinGecko data showed Ethereum rose more than 32 percent over the past 24 hours. Lee also gave a positive assessment of a surge in trading volume in the South Korean market earlier this week. He judged growing participation to be a signal of vitality across the broader crypto market.

The fact that Lee serves as chairman of BitMine is also seen as lending weight to his outlook. BitMine is pursuing an aggressive Ethereum accumulation strategy. Reuters reported that BitMine began its Ethereum strategy through a $250 million private fundraising on July 2, 2025, and had accumulated more than 163,000 ETH by July 14 of the same month. This has led to an assessment that Lee's outlook goes beyond an outside expert's market view and aligns with an actual corporate Ethereum investment strategy.

Another area of Lee's interest is DAT, a digital-asset treasury strategy company. He argued that an appropriate DAT can deliver higher performance than the underlying asset itself. He did not separately explain what structures and methods could make such performance possible.

Ultimately, market attention is expected to focus on whether Ethereum's recent rebound will remain a short-term surge or lead to a full revaluation versus bitcoin. If, as Lee argued, the rotation has already begun, a key variable behind the $10,000 outlook is how much Ethereum can expand its presence as a payments and settlement layer and absorb demand related to DeFi, tokenised assets and AI.