Ethereum “Remains In A Super Cycle” Amid Rising Stablecoin And Onchain Activity, Says Tom Lee

Tom Lee, the CIO of Fundstrat Capital and the Chairman of Bitmine Immersion Technologies, says that Ethereum “remains in a super cycle” as stablecoin demand and on-chain activity continue to rise.

In the past 24 hours, the largest altcoin by market cap soared more than 4% to trade at $4,168.35 as of 5:38 a.m. EST, data from CoinMarketCap shows. This recent gain was enough to flip the crypto’s weekly performance into the green as well. However, the altcoin is still down over 16% from the all-time high (ATH) of $4,953.73 that it reached on Aug. 24. 

Ethereum Price Has Not Caught Up To Strong Fundamentals

In a recent X post, Lee said that most of the time, a crypto’s price “leads” fundamentals. He added that there are some instances where the fundamentals lead the price. 

In the post, the Fundstrat CIO also shared an interview he had with CNBC. 

During the interview, he said that Ethereum is seeing “so much growth” in its layer-1 (L1) and layer-2 (L2) ecosystems because of stablecoins. Lee then noted that this rise in stablecoin activity has not yet reflected in ETH’s price, adding that “it does take time.” 

Lee went on to say that “fundamental activity on Ethereum is really picking up.” He said that this supports the argument that the altcoin is poised to experience a “big move” towards the end of the year. 

Stablecoin Market Cap Surges After GENIUS Act Signing

Lee’s remarks come as the stablecoin market continues to grow, with the sector’s capitalization standing at over $308.62 billion, according to data from DefiLlama. 

Stablecoin market cap (Source: DefiLlama)

A catalyst for the stablecoin market’s growth was the signing of the GENIUS Act into law by US President Donald Trump in July. Since then, the stablecoin market cap has risen from approximately $257 billion to its current level. 

With regards to market share, most of the global stablecoin supply resides on the Ethereum blockchain. Additional data from DefiLlama shows that Ethereum has a 53.32% share of the market currently, which equates to approximately $162.84 billion. This is more than double the second-largest market share of 25.78%, which belongs to Tron.

Ethereum TVL Jumps 5% In 24 Hours

Alongside the dominance in the stablecoin market, the Ethereum blockchain has also seen its total value locked (TVL) rise more than 5% in the past 24 hours. As a result, the figure stands at over $90.11 billion. This is also more than 63% of the total TVL in the crypto market. The next-biggest value of 8.4% belongs to Solana.

On-chain activity for Ethereum has also soared in the past twelve months. 

Data from YCharts shows that the number of daily transactions on Ethereum currently stands at approximately 1.311 million. While this is a more than 16% decrease from the 1.567 million transactions seen yesterday, the latest figure marks an over 14% increase from a year ago.

BitMine Holds Millions Of ETH On Its Balance Sheet

BitMine is currently the largest corporate holder of Ethereum globally, according to data from StrategicETHReserve.

With around 3.24 million ETH tokens on its balance sheet, the company’s holdings are valued at more than $13.47 billion at current prices. 

BitMine’s last purchase was on Oct. 19, when the company bought 203.8K ETH for over $848 million, and was the latest move in the company’s efforts to own 5% of the crypto’s supply. 

After the recent interview and ETH’s 24-hour gain, BitMine’s share price rose over 2%. However, the company’s share price is still more than 5% down on the longer-term monthly time frame.

BitMine share price (Source: Google Finance) 

Meanwhile, Ethereum treasury competitor Sharplink Gaming, which is the second-largest corporate ETH holder with 859.4K tokens on its balance sheet, executed its latest purchase in the last 24 hours.

In an X post, on-chain analytics platform Onchain Lens said that Sharplink added another 19,271 ETH worth $80.37 million to its strategic reserve.