Tom Lee: ETH Leads Q3, Tokenization and AI Could Be the Engines of the Next Bull Market

Odaily News, Tom Lee stated that during historical crypto bull market cycles, the ETH/BTC ratio typically rises as Ethereum's usage increases relative to Bitcoin. The ICOs of 2017-2018, the NFTs of 2020-2021, and stablecoins in 2025 have all served as significant catalysts driving Ethereum adoption growth.

Lee believes that in the next cycle, Wall Street's tokenization of assets and deployment on blockchains, as well as Agentic AI's use of blockchain technology, could further push the ETH/BTC ratio higher.

Lee noted that heading into the final months of 2026, the crypto market is facing several positive catalysts, including the anticipated CLARITY Act vote in mid-September, South Korean investors re-entering the crypto market and rotating from AI stocks, and the "four-year cycle" which he believes will bottom out in the coming weeks. These factors could pave the way for a significant influx of institutional capital in the last months of 2026.

Lee also pointed out that since Q3 2026, ETH has been the best-performing macro asset, outperforming the S&P 500 by 5,430 basis points as of last Friday. The three best-performing assets since June 30 are ETH, BTC, and SOL. He believes that crypto assets' significant outperformance relative to other macro assets so far this quarter is likely to further attract institutions to increase their crypto allocations. (PRNewswire)