Market Outlook and Federal Reserve Influence
Tom Lee, chairman of BitMine, expressed optimism about Bitcoin's potential to reach an all-time high by the end of January. He stated on CNBC that he is "pretty bullish into December even with the first day being rocky." Lee indicated that the recovery of equities, which he anticipates, and the appointment of a new Federal Reserve chairman would significantly influence this trend. He elaborated that concerns about a hawkish Fed negatively impact crypto models, suggesting that a dovish Fed would serve as a substantial tailwind for the market. Market losses had previously accelerated when Fed chair Jerome Powell cast doubt on a December rate cut. However, market sentiment has shifted, with CME futures markets now indicating an 87.6% probability of a 0.25% rate cut on December 10.
Recovery From Deleveraging and Market Repercussions
Lee's remarks coincided with Bitcoin and the broader crypto market beginning the week in negative territory, following another leverage flush-out on Monday. Bitcoin experienced a significant drop, falling to $84,000. This decline was also attributed to fears surrounding the end of the Yen Carry Trade, as Japanese government bond yields reached multi-year highs. Lee noted that Bitcoin and crypto had been disappointing performers in October and again when the likelihood of a rate cut diminished. He explained that markets had not fully recovered and were still grappling with a massive deleveraging event, which he compared to the FTX wipeout in 2022, a process that took approximately eight weeks. Lee believes the market is emerging from this period, suggesting that within a week or two, crypto might have "fully washed out" and could begin to participate more actively.
He further elaborated on potential tailwinds for the year-end, including the conclusion of the Fed's quantitative tightening (QT) and a December Fed cut. Lee emphasized that the underlying fundamentals remain solid, creating favorable risk/reward opportunities.
Crypto prices have fallen relentlessly even as fundamentals, measured by wallets, onchain, fees or tokenizatio, have moved forward
So risk/reward is attractive for $BTC and $ETH https://t.co/yk6poVwSQ6
— Thomas (Tom) Lee (not drummer) FSInsight.com (@fundstrat) December 1, 2025
BitMine's Strategic Investment in Ethereum
Tom Lee's firm, BitMine Immersion Technologies, has maintained a bullish stance on Ethereum, actively buying the dip on Tuesday, according to Arkham Intelligence. The firm acquired an additional 7,080 ETH, valued at $19.8 million. This recent purchase increases BitMine's total Ethereum holdings to 3.73 million ETH, worth $10.43 billion. This significant accumulation represents over 3% of the total ETH supply and accounts for 61.6% of the company's treasury target, as reported by SER. At the time of writing, Ether prices showed no immediate signs of recovery and were trading around $2,800.