- Joseph Lubin says Ether can rise 100x as banks adopt staking and shift core systems to Ethereum rails.
- Tom Lee outlines five-digit ETH targets linked to institutional flows, ETFs and corporate treasury demand.
Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin said Ether could multiply one hundredfold as major financial firms adopt staking and decentralized settlement, amplifying a thesis championed by Fundstrat’s Tom Lee on Wall Street-led demand.
Lubin ties 100x scenario to banks staking Ether and replacing legacy stacks
In a weekend post on X, Lubin argued that large banks and brokers will stake Ether because they already pay to maintain proprietary infrastructure and that Ethereum could replace many siloed stacks in those operations.
He added that the magnitude of incremental demand from treasuries, custodians and market-infrastructure providers makes a 100x move from current levels “likely,” and he suggested Ether could ultimately surpass Bitcoin’s monetary base if that adoption progresses.
His remarks were framed as an endorsement and escalation of Tom Lee’s institutional adoption thesis. Lubin’s argument rests on two cash-flow levers for traditional firms. First, staking yields would turn an operating cost into a balance-sheet return.
Second, shared settlement on a programmable base layer reduces duplication across clearing, collateral and reconciliation. That combination, he contends, would convert passive ETH ownership into productive infrastructure while deepening liquidity across Layer-2 networks that anchor to Ethereum for security.
Lee projects five-digit ETH as ETFs and corporate treasuries expand exposure
Lee has not put a 100x label on Ether, but he has laid out aggressive five-digit targets tied to institutional flows. In recent interviews and notes, he said ETH could advance toward the $5,500 area in the near term and reach $10,000 to $12,000 by year-end 2025 under stronger fourth-quarter seasonality and improving fund inflows.
He has also discussed scenarios where network value supports higher out-year prices if tokenized assets and staking-enabled products scale.
Tom Lee @fundstrat, one of the world's largest $ETH treasury holders, says Wall Street will stake and use Ethereum and that ETH could flip Bitcoin in terms of network value:"Could Etheruem do 100x?"Joe (@ethereumJoseph) and I are in dialogue." pic.twitter.com/gPp6Y0Lt1K
— ALLINCRYPTO (@RealAllinCrypto) August 7, 2025
Lee’s framework cites three demand channels. Spot and potential staking-enabled ETFs provide regulated wrappers for asset managers and advisers.
Corporate balance sheets are beginning to experiment with Ether as a treasury and operations asset, a theme highlighted by BitMine Immersion’s plan to build an ETH reserve, which drove extreme share-price volatility after its announcement.
Finally, real-world-asset tokenization and stablecoin settlement concentrate activity on Ethereum’s base layer and its rollups, expanding fee revenue and staking rewards that anchor valuation models. Together, Lubin’s projection and Lee’s pathway sketch a market where Wall Street participation is not limited to directional bets.
If banks, brokers and corporates stake to secure workflows and migrate portions of clearing and collateral operations onto shared rails, the resulting structural bid could test Ethereum’s capacity assumptions across Layer-2 scaling, data availability and client-custody models.
Those frictions now form the core variables for whether Lubin’s 100x scenario or Lee’s nearer-dated targets materialize as institutional adoption advances.
At the time of reporting, Ethereum is trading at $4 398.16, reflecting a decline of –$45.94 (approximately –1.03 %) from its previous closing price.
