BlackRock Acquires More ETH for Its Staking Program as Tom Lee Calls for $22,000 Bull Target

• BlackRock acquires more ETH for its staking program.

• Tom Lee calls for ETH $22,000 bull target.

• He expects ETH to hit a minimum of $12,000 when BTC hits $250,000.

With the price of ETH back up over the $2,000 price range, expectations for a bullish recovery for the price of the pioneer altcoin asset grow stronger. At the moment, whales, financial institutions and other big entities are continuously accumulating ETH at a steady pace. Amidst these movements, BlackRock acquires more ETH for its staking program as Tom Lee calls for $22,000 bull target.

BlackRock Acquires More ETH for its Staking Program

The expectation for the price of ETH to hit new ATH prices have not fallen despite the many bear market and crypto winter market calls. Presently, sentiments are being tugged by several highly differential takes. For instance, one group beelives the bear market has begun and that BTC and ETH prices will far by a much more significant number by the end of the year, leading to low and fearful sentiments.

Meanwhile, another group believes that a correction is playing out and that the 4-year bull cycle will become a 5-year supercycle this time, pushing crypto asset prices to significantly higher new ATH targets sometime this year. Likewise, another group of experts admit that crypto winter has begun, but also states that, unlike previous cycles, this phase will be short-lived and a reversal will come soon to propel asset prices to much higher targets.

The latter two narratives seem to be what financial institutions, big crypto buying entities, and crypto whales are focusing on. At the moment, whales and financial institutions’ crypto buying actions are high. This is no surprise as bear market nd crypto winter prices are simply promising crypto assets available on sale, providing the perfect opportunity to buy low, especially if higher targets are expected.

💥BREAKING:

BlackRock has begun acquiring Ethereum for its upcoming staking ETF, which plans to stake up to 95% of its holdings under normal market conditions. pic.twitter.com/euN4eRIQch

— Crypto Rover (@cryptorover) February 18, 2026

As we can see from the post above, BlackRock has begun acquiring Ethereum for its upcoming staking ETF, which plans to stake up to 95% of its holdings under normal market conditions. At the same time, Bitmine Immersion’s Tom Lee talks about the future price of Ethereum, which, according to him, will surge due to growing industry activity. He believes ETH should already be at $12,000.

Tom Lee Calls for $22,000 Bull Target

🔥TOM LEE: $ETH COULD HIT $22,000

He says the best way to predicting ETH is to look at its ratio to Bitcoin.

At its 8-year average ratio of 0.0479, BTC at $250K implies $12K ETH.

“But that’s too low,” he says.

“It may recover to its 2021 high of 0.0873. That’s $22K ETH.”… pic.twitter.com/7bjBoVO5UJ

— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) February 18, 2026

As we can see from the post above, Tom Lee explains how he compares ETH to BTC based on the 8-year average margin. He says if BTC goes to $250,000, ETH should be at $12,000. But this still feels like a much lower target. He then states the position of ETH and its relationship with AI and the presence of creators and innovators who will likely build products around ETH. This could push the price of ETH to $22,000.