Bitmine's Tom Lee Says CLARITY Act Will 'Open Flood Gates' Institutional Money Into Crypto As ETH Outpaces Memory Stocks

• Tom Lee said the CLARITY Act could be the next major catalyst for crypto on Monday.
• According to Lee, the bill's biggest impact would be creating a single federal framework for digital assets.
• Lee pointed to Ethereum's recent strength, noting it has outperformed memory stocks by more than 70 percentage points since late June.

Fundstrat Managing Partner and Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) chairman Tom Lee revealed that the next major leg up for the cryptocurrency industry would be tied to the CLARITY Act, which he thinks could "open up the floodgates" for institutional adoption like never before. He also highlighted Ethereum’s sharp outperformance compared to memory stocks as evidence that investors have begun positioning for the next phase of crypto adoption

Tom Lee Sees Regulatory Clarity As Crypto’s Next Growth Catalyst 

In Monday’s Global Money Talk, Lee said the CLARITY Act would put a single federal agency in charge of overseeing the entire crypto market, calling today’s regulatory landscape fragmented and state-by-state.

"That doesn't exist today," he said. He argued the U.S. is behind other major economies on this front, saying Japan and other countries have already adopted similar frameworks and that "Russia just passed one, so the U.S. obviously has to catch up." 

Russia approved the country’s first comprehensive legislation on digital assets, setting the stage for exchanges, depositories and other providers of digital currencies to operate from Sept. 1. The law limits crypto trading to entities listed on a special registry, caps annual purchases by retail investors at approximately $3,800 by licensed intermediary, and gives holders of digital currencies judicial protection.

BMNR’s price was down over 4% in pre-market trade, as Bitcoin (BTC) fell to $63,000, bringing most crypto-equities down with it. 

Ethereum Is Already Leading The Shift – Outperforming Memory Stocks

Even with a recent drawdown, Lee said crypto has “so many catalysts,” and pointed out that Ethereum has outperformed memory stocks by 72 percentage points since the end of June. 

He said the current market was at the bottom of a bear market, comparing it to the way sentiment falls before a turn. “You’d expect at the bottom people to be bearish,” he said, “In fact, that's exactly what makes a bottom."

Ethereum’s price was trading around $1,875, down over 4% in the last 24 hours. The asset has been up nearly 19% in the last 30 days. In contrast, Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM), which holds memory stocks, has been down over 27% over the same period. 

On Stocktwits, Ethereum was one of the top trending tickers. Retail sentiment around ETH dropped to the ‘neutral’ zone from the ‘bullish’ zone, while chatter stayed at ‘normal’ levels. In comparison, retail sentiment around DRAM remained in the ‘extremely bearish’ zone, with chatter levels changing to ‘low’ from ‘extremely low’. 

Crypto Is Moving Beyond Meme Coins 

Crypto is moving out of what Lee called its “hobby phase” of meme coins and NFTs into a new phase of development around stablecoins and payment rails, he said. Lee added that an early proof of Ethereum’s success was Robinhood’s (HOOD) Ethereum-based chain launch earlier this month, which has seen more than $1 billion in daily volume and is on track to generate roughly a billion a year for the company. 

"Every Wall Street firm is watching what Robinhood did," Lee said, adding that firms are increasingly waking up to the opportunity of tokenizing assets on Ethereum.

BMNR was down over 34% so far this year. 

Read also: Former Multicoin Co-Founder Says Firm Is 'Working Against' Solana Builders Over Hyperliquid Backing

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