Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee believes the recent wave of cryptocurrency exchange closures signals a major market bottom. Reacting to news that BitMart—one of the world’s largest exchanges by volume—will wind down its platform, and that derivatives pioneer BitMEX plans to cease operations later this year, Lee stated on X that “these things happen at the bottom of a cycle.” Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao echoed the sentiment, calling such shutdowns a market-bottom indicator in a now-deleted tweet, while noting that acquiring struggling centralized exchanges is riskier than other deals due to inherited security liabilities.
Amid the industry turmoil, Lee remains exceptionally bullish on Ethereum. He argued that ETH is entering its “2.0” phase and could become the dominant settlement layer for both traditional finance and AI agents, drawing parallels to the transformational growth of Amazon, Nvidia, and JPMorgan. His long-term price target for ETH stands at $250,000. Lee also reiterated that cryptocurrencies offer one of the most attractive risk-reward opportunities heading into year-end and recently joined Fidelity in urging Congress to pass the CLARITY Act, warning that failing to do so could put the United States at a competitive disadvantage.
