Tom Lee's bullish comments drew repeated criticism from the community, and he "broke down" and responded.

[Tom Lee's Bullish Comments Draw Criticism from the Community, He Retorts] According to Mars Finance, on December 26th, Tom Lee shared an article with optimistic expectations for the crypto market in 2026, which drew criticism from some community members. One member commented, "Your words are of no use to your remaining credibility." Tom Lee cleverly retorted, "To earn the respect of your portfolio and your kindergarten classmates, please subscribe to FS Insight Premium." Another community member said, "You first said Ethereum's target price was $12,000, then you said $7,000. Your evidence is completely unreliable. Ethereum's price is unlikely to even exceed $3,000. You should reflect on yourself." Tom Lee seemed somewhat "out of his element" in this, retorting to the user that he was a "clown." This isn't the first time Tom Lee's bullish comments have faced criticism. In September of this year, Andrew Kang, founder of crypto venture capital firm Mechanism Capital, bluntly stated that Tom Lee's theories about ETH were "like something an idiot would say." Furthermore, analysts at Tom Lee's fund recently expressed a significantly bearish view on next year, contradicting his own opinion. This has also drawn widespread criticism towards him recently.