Ethereum Thesis From Tom Lee Torched As ‘Retarded’ By VC Firm Boss

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Mechanism Capital co-founder Andrew Kang escalated his critique of Tom Lee’s latest Ethereum concern lawsuit with an unusually blunt tirade connected X, interlacing his rebuttal with a bid of sharply worded assertions and data-driven claims. “Tom Lee’s ETH thesis is 1 of the astir retarded combinations of financially illiterate arguments I’ve seen from a good known expert successful a while,” Kang wrote, earlier listing 5 pillars helium says underpin Lee’s view: “(1) Stablecoin & RWA adoption; (2) Digital lipid comparison; (3) Institutions volition bargain and involvement ETH; (4) ETH volition beryllium adjacent to each fiscal infrastructure companies; (5) Technical analysis.”

Is Tom Lee’s Ethereum Thesis Retarded?

Kang’s central attack targets the thought that rising tokenization and stablecoin enactment should construe into outsized interest seizure for Ethereum. “Since 2020, tokenized plus worth and stablecoin transaction volumes person accrued 100–1000x… [but] fees are practically astatine the aforesaid level arsenic successful 2020,” helium argued. He attributed the disconnect to “Ethereum web upgrades making tx’s much efficient,” enactment moving “to different chains,” and the world that “tokenizing low-velocity assets doesn’t thrust overmuch fees.” He distilled the constituent with a stark comparison: “Someone could tokenize a $100m enslaved and if it trades erstwhile each 2 years… A azygous USDT would make much fees.”

The Mechanism Capital spouse pushed the competitory space further. “Most of the fees volition beryllium captured by different blockchains with stronger concern improvement teams,” helium wrote, naming “Solana, Arbitrum, and Tempo” arsenic seeing “most of the aboriginal large wins,” and adding that “Tether is supporting 2 caller Tether chains, Plasma and Stable,” explicitly intended to way USDT measurement to Tether-controlled rails.

Kang besides dismissed Lee’s “digital oil” framing arsenic analytically hollow. “Oil is simply a commodity… existent lipid prices adjusted for ostentation person been trading successful the aforesaid scope for implicit a period with periodic spikes that revert… I hold ETH could beryllium viewed arsenic a commodity, but that’s not bullish,” helium wrote.

He extended the scope analogy straight to Ether’s chart: “Looking astatine this illustration objectively, the strongest reflection is that Ethereum is successful a multi-year range… we precocious tapped the apical of the range, failing to interruption resistance… I would not discount the anticipation of a overmuch longer $1,000–$4,800 range.” On comparative performance, helium added: “Long-term ETH/BTC is so successful a multi-year range, but the past fewer years person mostly been dictated by a downtrend… The ethereum communicative is saturated and fundamentals bash not warrant valuation growth.”

On institutions, Kang argued that Lee’s premise—that banks and ample corporates volition accumulate and involvement ETH to unafraid tokenization networks oregon arsenic operating capital—misunderstands treasury behaviour and worth accrual. “Have ample banks… bought ETH connected their equilibrium expanse yet? No. Have immoderate of them announced plans to? Also no… Do banks banal up connected barrels of gasoline due to the fact that they continually wage for energy? No… Do banks bargain stocks of plus custodians they use? No,” helium wrote, calling the thought that staking request from incumbents would underpin valuation a class error.

Kang’s thread culminated successful a withering appraisal of Ethereum’s pricing dynamics: “Ethereum’s valuation comes chiefly from fiscal illiteracy… [which] tin make a decently ample marketplace cap… But the valuation that tin beryllium derived from fiscal illiteracy is not infinite… Unless determination is large organizational alteration it is apt destined to indefinite underperformance.”

Lee’s latest outlook, by contrast, has emphasized Ethereum’s suitability for Wall Street tokenization and its relation arsenic a “neutral chain,” with nationalist targets clustered astir $10,000–$12,000 by end-2025 and up to $62,500 successful a favorable super-cycle.

At work time, ETH traded adjacent $4,000.