TechFlow news, September 24 — Andrew Kang, co-founder of Mechanism Capital, criticized Tom Lee, chairman of BitMine's board of directors, on social media, calling his Ethereum investment arguments "a combination of financially illiterate reasoning."
Andrew Kang refuted each of Tom Lee's five core ETH investment points:
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Stablecoin and RWA adoption: Although RWA value and stablecoin trading volume have grown 100–1000x since 2020, Ethereum's daily transaction fees have remained at 2020 levels due to network upgrades improving efficiency and activity shifting to other blockchains.
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"Digital oil" analogy: Andrew Kang pointed out that oil is a commodity whose price, adjusted for inflation, has largely fluctuated within the same range over a century. While he agrees with Tom that Ethereum could be viewed as a commodity, this does not imply a bullish outlook.
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Institutional staking purchases: Andrew Kang stated that major banks and financial institutions are neither buying ETH nor have they announced any related plans.
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Valuation equivalent to financial infrastructure companies: Andrew Kang called this view a fundamental misunderstanding of value accrual and pure delusion.
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Technical analysis: Andrew Kang argued that Tom Lee uses technical analysis to draw arbitrary lines supporting his claims, while in reality, Ethereum's technical picture is bearish.
