James Wo Says Bitcoin Remains Dominant Institutional Asset, Rejects Tom Lee’s $250,000 Ether Call

James Wo, founder and chief executive of crypto investment firm DFG, told CoinDesk at the Proof of Talk conference in Paris that bitcoin remains the dominant institutional asset in crypto and that ether is unlikely to reach the same status anytime soon.

“A crypto pioneer who turned a $20 million family stake into a billion-dollar fund doubles down on bitcoin Sourcing initial capital from his mother to build a $1 billion crypto empire, DFG CEO James Wo says market metrics do not support Tom Lee’s $250,000 ether prediction”

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Wo rejected Bitmine Immersion Technologies Chairman Tom Lee’s prediction that ether would hit $250,000, saying, "I totally disagree with him."

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Wo argued that "Bitcoin has a very strong consensus" and said that beyond early backers, "all the people in crypto, and also traditional finance people" are trying to recognize bitcoin as a safe haven or asset class.

At the time of Wo’s remarks, CoinDesk reported ether was trading around $1,775 and bitcoin was near $63,000, as Wo said ether’s valuation depends on the localized application layer capturing fee value.

Wo also said, "I don't think Ethereum will even hit an all-time high," while claiming, "I think bitcoin will perform well, but not Ethereum."

Wo told CoinDesk that modern Layer-2 networks divert transactional volume and capture fee utility independently, making Ethereum’s value accrual structurally different from bitcoin’s.

Wo said, "The value of ether has been more diversified or decentralized," adding that "The Ethereum token as a whole is not going to capture a lot of value."

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CoinDesk reported that in February, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin reignited debate after suggesting that Layer-2 networks may "no longer make sense" as Ethereum becomes faster and cheaper.

Wo’s view was presented as an investor perspective shaped by more than a decade deploying capital across digital assets, starting with bitcoin during the 2014 bear market.

CoinDesk also said Wo later diversified DFG’s balance sheet into alternative layer-1 protocols including Solana, Polkadot and Near, and made an early $10 million allocation into Circle's USDC stablecoin project in January 2018.

CoinDesk reported that Wo expects bitcoin could undergo a near-term correction before reaching new highs later in the cycle, calculating that if it goes down 50% the bottom should be around $60,000 to $62,000.

“The founder of DFG believes Bitcoin will continue to consolidate as the sector's leading institutional asset, while Ethereum faces structural challenges to capture economic value in the long term”

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Wo said only an extreme geopolitical black swan event would push the asset lower, and he forecast, "At the peak, we have somehow like $125,000... I believe we will see an all-time high in 2027 or 2028."

Pluang reported that bitcoin dropped below $61,000 with an intraday low of $59,227, and that the move triggered $172 million in leveraged long liquidations within an hour.

Pluang also said bitcoin was testing a crucial support level at $60,000, with a break below potentially pushing the price down to $55,000, and it placed the total cryptocurrency market cap at about $2.2 trillion.

Pluang further reported that the US government's Strategic Bitcoin Reserve holds about 328,000 BTC and has lost nearly $20 billion in value since October 2025 due to a sharp decline in Bitcoin's price from its peak of around $124,000.