Tom Lee: The crypto "mini winter" may have already ended, and ETH could surge to $60k

ME News report: On April 15 (UTC+8), Bitmine Chairman Tom Lee said at the Paris Blockchain Week 2026 conference that the current decline in the crypto market is more like a “mini crypto winter,” which may be nearing its end. He believes that risk assets have completed bottoming amid “bad news” such as geopolitical conflicts. He noted that Ethereum is expected to break out of long-term consolidation and that in the future it will benefit from the tokenization trend and the development of on-chain AI (agentic AI) applications. If his market assumptions hold true, the ETH price could move toward the $60,000 level, and its long-term reasonable value could even reach about $62,000 (based on his estimate that Ethereum would reach about one-quarter of Bitcoin’s market cap). Lee emphasized that the current U.S. stock market has already seen its bottom first and has driven a rebound in risk assets, and that this round of crypto pullback is a rare “bear cycle not synchronized with the stock market.” He also mentioned that markets often form bottoms after major negative events such as wars. As of now, ETH has fallen by about 43% from its October 2025 high point, and the market remains in a clear volatility range. (Source: ChainCatcher)