Key Insights
- Arkham report discloses Tom Lee buys $150 million in ETH, even as Ethereum price jumps 4%.
- Two wallets reportedly withdrew a combined $150M from Kraken and Bitgo, signalling continued institutional accumulation.
- More than $5.8 billion in short positions would be liquidated if ETH reaches $3,500.
- Ethereum’s Fusaka upgrade just went live, as analysts discuss a massive ETH price rally post the previous upgrade.
Ethereum price jumped on Dec. 3, 2025, after blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence flagged a $150 million ETH purchase linked to FundStrat co-founder Tom Lee.
On-chain data showed two new wallets withdrawing $92 million of ETH from Kraken and $58 million from BitGo – a pattern matching BitMine Immersion’s buying spree.
Ether briefly climbed above $3,200 (peaking near $3,231), its highest level in weeks, as “shark” wallets (holders of 1–10K ETH) accumulated heavily.
These moves, coinciding with Ethereum’s Fusaka upgrade, have analysts talking up the bull case and revisiting lofty targets (some have pegged the $5,000–$5,700 range if bullish trends continue).
Ethereum Price Reaction to Tom Lee’s Buy
Tom Lee’s BitMine Immersion has been quietly buying into Ether throughout late 2025. On Dec. 1 that BitMine acquired 96,798 ETH in the prior week, bringing its total holdings to roughly 3.73 million ETH (about $10.5 billion).
That makes BitMine the largest corporate Ethereum treasury. Remarkably, BitMine kept buying even as ETH briefly fell to the high-$2,700s at the end of November.
In a statement, Tom Lee said that an expected Federal Reserve rate cut and Ethereum’s Fusaka upgrade are “positive tailwinds for ETH prices,” prompting BitMine to raise its weekly ETH purchases by 39%.
Arkham Intelligence’s Dec. 3 data suggests BitMine (and possibly other whales) followed through on that plan.
As Arkham noted, “TOM LEE JUST BOUGHT $150M ETH,” with new wallet withdrawals matching BitMine’s previous buying patterns.
Fusaka Upgrade Spurs Positive Ethereum News As Price Jumps
The $150 million buy comes just ahead of Ethereum’s second major 2025 upgrade. Fusaka activated on Dec. 3, introducing PeerDAS (8× data throughput for rollups) and raising the gas limit from 45 to 60 million.
In the hours after activation, ETH “surged past the critical $3,200 resistance,” gaining 7.4% in 24 hours.
Traders noted this cleared a key supply cluster around $3,154–$3,200, a bullish technical signal.
The move mirrored Ethereum’s last big upgrade (Pectra in May 2025): before Pectra, ETH made a lower low on price while RSI held higher, then jumped 56% in just a week after the fork.
If Fusaka indeed repeats a fraction of that performance, ether could push toward the mid-$4,000s by early 2026.
Ethereum developer Terence Tsao hailed Fusaka’s success, noting “L2s [layer-2 rollups] [are] posting blobs without missing a beat” and calling the combined L1/L2 system “one well-oiled machine.”
Blockchain data reinforced the positive sentiment. Crypto analytics firm Santiment noted that “shark” wallets (1K–10K ETH) have been accumulating all week.
This helped push ETH to $3,215 on Dec. 3, the highest price since mid-November. Santiment also reported an influx of 190,000 new ETH wallets in a single day, indicating renewed retail interest.
On-chain supply metrics are tightening. Addresses holding at least $1 million in ETH climbed from 13,322 to 13,945 recently. That’s about $623 million more held by large investors.
Is $5,700 Within Reach?
The big question is how far this rally can go. Some market-watchers use the ETH/BTC ratio as a guide: currently about 0.031, Ethereum is well below its 2021 peak of 0.05.
If ETH/BTC were to return to 0.05 (with Bitcoin near current levels), that implies an ETH price roughly in the mid-$5,000s.
FundStrat’s Tom Lee has cited this level himself in past analysis (60% upside from current 0.031 ≈ $5,700). Achieving that would require another leg up beyond the recent upgrade-fueled gains.
Analysts note it would likely take sustained bullish catalysts, continued whale buying, further network upgrades, or major macro tailwinds to push Ether that high.
At press time, short-term resistance sits near the $3,250–3,300 range, and a clear break above $3,500 could open a path to $4,000+ in early 2026.
By comparison, repeating the roughly 50–60% post-upgrade surge seen in May would take ETH from $3,200 into the $5,000–$5,100 range.