Tom Lee: Crypto Downturn a Temporary ‘Squall’ — Fundamentals Intact

Veteran analyst Tom Lee (chairman of Bitmine) told CNBC the recent cryptocurrency sell-off — including a ~50% Bitcoin correction — is a temporary shock driven by macro factors, not a collapse of network fundamentals. Lee called the event a “crypto squall,” attributing it to external catalysts such as a Supreme Court ruling on tariffs that unsettled global trade and capital flows, shifting Fed rate expectations, and geopolitical tension. He argued large holders were rebalancing portfolios, causing steep price moves while on-chain metrics remained resilient: Bitcoin hash rate rose modestly, Ethereum daily transactions increased, active addresses stayed largely stable, and DeFi TVL fell only slightly. Lee highlighted durable growth vectors — rising ETH activity and Layer-2 scaling, tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs), and growing Wall Street participation via custody and ETFs — that support a long-term secular uptrend. Historical corrections (2013–15, 2018, March 2020) are cited as precedent for deep yet recoverable drawdowns. For traders, Lee’s view suggests this event favors looking past price noise toward network health: expect heightened short-term volatility and rebalancing-driven flows, but limited evidence of structural collapse. Primary keywords: crypto downturn, Tom Lee, Bitcoin correction, network fundamentals. Secondary/semantic keywords: Ethereum transactions, DeFi TVL, tokenization, institutional adoption, macro catalysts.