Speaking at Paris Blockchain Week, Tom Lee, chairman at Bitmine, an Ethereum Treasury firm, said the current downturn in crypto markets represents a “mini crypto winter”, rather than a full market cycle.
He noted that, unlike previous crypto bear markets, the recent decline, with Ethereum down around 65% since October, has occurred without a corresponding 20% drop in equity markets.
“Every crypto winter we’ve gone through has occurred when the equity markets were down at least 20% but not this time,” he said.
Lee attributed the sell-off to crypto-specific factors, including a deleveraging event, rather than broader macroeconomic stress.
He added that equity markets may have already bottomed, a signal that has historically aligned with turning points in crypto markets.
“Every equity market bottom has coincided with the Bitcoin bottom,” he said.
The shift comes as institutional perspectives on digital assets continue to evolve, with Lee pointing to tokenisation and AI-driven financial infrastructure as key drivers of the approaching cycle.
