TLDR
- Fundstrat’s Tom Lee predicted ETH could reach $250,000, driven by AI and tokenization.
- Bitmine bought 111,942 ETH worth ~$237 million, bringing its holdings to 5.4 million ETH (4.47% of supply).
- The Ethereum Foundation now holds just 0.1% of supply, while corporate validators control 7%.
- Corporate validators generate $500 million in annual staking rewards.
- ETH was trading at $1,906 at time of writing, down 6% in 24 hours.
Tom Lee, head of research at Fundstrat and chairman of Bitmine Immersion Technologies, told the Proof of Talk conference in Paris that Ethereum could one day reach $250,000 per token. He did not give a specific timeline.
At the time of his speech, ETH was trading at $1,906, down 6% in the past 24 hours.
Lee’s company, Bitmine, recently bought 111,942 ETH for around $237 million. That pushed its total holdings to nearly 5.4 million ETH, equal to about 4.47% of all ether in circulation.
Lee framed this purchase as a bet on two major trends: the rise of artificial intelligence and the tokenization of real-world assets.
“If Ethereum goes to $250,000, that values Bitmine stock at $5,000,” Lee said. “It’s a bargain at $18.”
AI and the Machine Economy
Lee argued that AI-powered robots and automated software will soon dominate internet traffic. These machines will need a fast, borderless payment system to pay each other — and Lee believes Ethereum is best positioned to fill that role.
“Robots are already going to dominate most traffic on the internet,” Lee said. He added that blockchain systems are better than traditional banking rails for authentication, identity, and payment speed in a machine-to-machine economy.
He described this shift as a potential multi-trillion-dollar expansion of Ethereum’s total network value.
Binance News reported on Lee’s comments, noting that he called current bearish sentiment “selling at the bottom for Bitcoin and Ethereum.”
Corporate Validators Are Filling the Void
The Ethereum Foundation, once the main steward of the network, has reduced its own holdings to just 100,000 ETH — roughly 0.1% of total supply.
Corporate validators have stepped in to fill that gap. Companies like Bitmine and Sharklink now collectively hold 7% of circulating ETH.
Together, these corporate validators generate $500 million per year in staking rewards, which Lee says now funds the broader ecosystem in place of foundation grants.
Lee also revealed that Bitmine is set to be added to the Russell 1000 index on June 26. The Russell 1000 is benchmarked by more than $4 trillion in fund assets, meaning fund managers will be required to assess whether to hold Bitmine shares.
He compared performance data showing that holding spot ETH returned 22% over a six-month baseline, while Bitmine’s staking model returned 500% over the same period.
ETH was trading at $1,906 at time of publication, down 6% over the prior 24 hours.
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