Is ETH about to be swept into “delisted cards”? Tom Lee’s one sentence sends shorts into a cold sweat

The most surreal scene in the market lately isn’t BTC surging higher, nor is it an altcoin rebound—it’s that Wall Street’s “ETH harvester” has started publicly showing off their inventory.
Tom Lee suddenly loosened the leash: BitMine is getting closer and closer to its goal of acquiring 5% of ETH’s circulating supply. The market heard it and immediately blew up.
What does that mean?
In plain terms: someone is sweeping ETH like they’re buying up properties.
In the past, everyone believed that institutions buying ETH was “strategic allocation.” Now they realize that what they’re going for is “market control.”
Here’s the question.
If they truly take 5% of the supply, what happens?
The first layer of impact is liquidity.
ETH may look like it has a lot of circulation on the surface, but a large number of coins are staked, locked in DeFi, or frozen in long-term cold wallets—so the amount of trading-ready chips isn’t as plentiful as people imagine.
It’s like a crowded night market: it looks like there are many people, but there are only two places selling fried rice.
As a result, whales like BitMine keep sweeping—and also locking—so the ETH available for trading in the market keeps getting less and less.
Then retail investors realize:
“Why is ETH constantly wobbling—but when it moves, it’s a violent needle spike?”
Because the chips are becoming more and more concentrated.
The second layer is even more stimulating.
Tom Lee said that “the pace of sweeping may slow down in the future,” and many people misinterpret it as negative news.
Actually, it’s more like:
“The landlord has almost finished buying up the land.”
You think it’s because they can’t buy anymore—when in reality it may be that—there aren’t enough cheap chips left.
And what truly makes market sentiment complicated is:
Institutions are starting to treat ETH as “digital oil.”
BTC is responsible for storing value, while ETH is responsible for on-chain financial fee rights.
Whoever controls ETH, it’s like holding the key to the highway tollbooth.
So lately, the market has become increasingly absurd:
Retail investors are still studying candlestick charts,
while institutions have started studying “supply control ratios.”
The funniest part is that many people were still shouting “ETH is finished” last year.
But now:
ETFs are here,
institutions are here,
the treasury is here—
even traditional funds have started discussing “ETH Treasury Strategy.”
Retail investors look back:
“So the clown was me all along.”
Of course, don’t get too carried away.
If the proportion of market control by institutions keeps rising, ETH volatility in the future could become even more intense.
Because when the circulating chips become fewer,
rallies are easier,
and massive sell-offs can happen even faster.
That’s also why a new logic has started showing up in the market recently:
“It’s not about how much ETH is worth,
but about who can still buy ETH.”
The most terrifying thing in a bull market has never been the rise.
It’s the day you suddenly realize:
The market is out of stock. #ArthurHayes看好山寨币