Ethereum to Overtake Bitcoin? BitMEX’s Tom Lee Predicts Wall Street-Style Flip

BitMEX chairman Tom Lee believes Ethereum could one day surpass Bitcoin’s market dominance, drawing a comparison to how ￰1￱ overtook gold after the United States abandoned the gold standard in ￰2￱ in an interview with ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood on Thursday, Lee said, “Ethereum could flip Bitcoin similar to how Wall Street and equities flipped gold post-’71.” Currently, Bitcoin’s market capitalization stands at roughly $2.17 trillion, about 4.6 times larger than Ethereum’s $476.33 billion, according to ￰3￱ Lee, who also oversees BitMine’s Ethereum accumulation strategy, argues that Ethereum’s long-term potential mirrors the rise of the ￰4￱ after 1971, when it became a “fully synthetic” fiat ￰5￱ Lee Compares Ethereum’s Rise to Post-Gold-Standard Dollar Dominance Lee’s argument draws on historical ￰6￱ President Richard Nixon ended dollar-gold convertibility in 1971, gold initially surged, but over time, ￰7￱ exploded in value, their market capitalization dwarfing gold’s.), tokenized assets, and digital identity infrastructure, “the blockchain backbone of a tokenized Wall Street,” as Lee put it.

“When the ￰8￱ the gold standard, the immediate beneficiary was gold,” Lee said. “But Wall Street created products that made the dollar dominant. Today, equities’ market cap is $40 trillion, while gold’s is $2 trillion.” He added that Ethereum’s role in tokenizing real-world assets, driving decentralized applications, and enabling on-chain finance could allow it to mirror that same rise. “As everything becomes tokenized, Ethereum could be the financial substrate of the digital economy,” Lee ￰9￱ of an Ethereum Power Shift: Market Leaders Hint at Looming Flippening as ETH Outpaces Bitcoin Ethereum’s fundamentals already support the thesis.

Ethereum’s price climbed 6.6% in the past 24 hours to $3,731.69, while Bitcoin rose 5.1% to $104,737.) September 1, 2025 Lee also echoed this view in a separate CNBC appearance, calling Ethereum’s smart contracts “the next layer of the internet.” Notably, the network regularly processes more transactions than Bitcoin, powers the majority of DeFi and NFT activity, and continues to attract institutional integration through tokenized bonds, funds, and corporate assets. Meanwhile, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” author Robert Kiyosaki added weight to Ethereum’s narrative , describing it as both a store of value and an industrial asset. “Today, I believe silver and Ethereum are the best because they are stores of value, but more importantly, they are used in industry,” he said, calling both assets “hot, hot, hot” for the next cycle of wealth ￰10￱ Lee predicts Ethereum rally to $5,500 soon, $12,000 by year-end as BitMine accumulates $7.65B treasury. #Ethereum #Rally ￰0￱ — ￰11￱ (@cryptonews) August 27, 2025 Lee recently predicted that Ethereum could rally to $5,500 in the near term, with a year-end target of $12,000.

While Bitcoin retains the edge in market value and brand recognition, Ethereum’s expanding utility and network activity are fueling speculation that a “flippening” could occur within the next cycle. Lee’s comparison reframes the rivalry not as a contest of ideology, but of function. “Gold will always have value,” an analyst said. “But the future of finance was built on equities, and the future of blockchain may be built on Ethereum.” Could Ethereum Ever Reach Bitcoin’s Market Value?

Here’s What It Would Take Now, to answer the question, Ethereum would need to rise by roughly 4.6 times its current price to match Bitcoin’s market capitalization, according to market data analyzed on October ￰12￱ 120.7 million ETH in circulation versus 19.9 million BTC, Ethereum’s larger supply explains its lower per-unit price. BTC-ETH Market Cap Dominance) , and tokenized assets that drive real-world use. Historically, Ethereum has at times outpaced Bitcoin in ￰13￱ data shows that across certain five-year spans, Ethereum’s average annualized return reached 60.4%, slightly ahead of Bitcoin’s 59.1%. ETH Overall Price Chart