On June 2, Tom Lee, Chairman of the largest Ethereum treasury company BitMine (NYSE: BMNR), took the stage at the “Proof of Talk 2026” conference at the Louvre in Paris to deliver a speech titled “Crypto Spring: ETH is the Future of Money.” Lee asserted that the prevailing bearish sentiment is a clear sign of a market bottom for Bitcoin and Ethereum. With artificial intelligence and tokenization driving a fundamental transformation of financial infrastructure, he envisions ETH eventually reaching $250,000.
Lee structured his talk into three parts: five reasons why crypto spring has already arrived, why Ethereum is the best candidate for the future of money, and why buying crypto treasury stocks – particularly BitMine – is superior to holding the underlying tokens.
Five Tailwinds: Oil, Legislation, White House, New Fed Chair, and Demographics
Lee pointed to the Iran conflict driving up oil prices, noting the strong negative correlation between oil and ETH. Once the war ends, the risk premium on crude should evaporate, potentially pushing prices to $40 per barrel. He showed that sustained oil spikes historically accelerate core CPI and force the Federal Reserve to tighten, while easing opens the door for crypto rallies. The second catalyst is the Clarity Act, which would provide a legal framework for crypto adoption and institutional involvement in the US. Prediction markets price its passage at only 56%, but Lee’s Washington contacts suggest a much higher likelihood. The third tailwind is the White House’s pro-Bitcoin and stablecoin stance, and the fourth is new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, a Bitcoin supporter. The fifth macro force is demographics: he presented a chart showing US stock returns tracking the 30-50 year-old population, with Millennials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha driving above-trend growth that could propel the S&P 500 to 15,000–18,000 by the end of the decade.
AI and Tokenization: Anchoring Value in Crypto Infrastructure
Lee stressed that Agentic AI will become a major crypto narrative. From the launch of ChatGPT to flexible robotics and superhuman capabilities, non-human traffic already dominates the internet. Blockchain outperforms traditional systems in identity verification and payment speed, and he believes AI infrastructure will ultimately be built on crypto. Software stocks have recently gone parabolic, and since ETH has historically moved in sync with them, he expects the price to catch up within weeks. On tokenization, stablecoins have surpassed Visa in transaction volume, and the tokenized securities market could reach $300 trillion. Crypto asset prices are highly correlated with the amount of tokenized assets, meaning Ethereum’s total value locked would surge exponentially. Lee cited Jane Street earning $40 billion with 3,000 employees and Tether earning $15 billion with 300 people as examples of how crypto-native firms are efficiently eating into traditional finance’s profits. He predicts five of the world’s top ten financial institutions will be crypto-native within a decade.
The Rise of Corporate Validators: Treasury Replacing the Foundation
Lee argued that the Ethereum Foundation should no longer be the centralized steward of the network. Vitalik has already written about scaling back its role. The Foundation’s holdings have dwindled from 17% of supply to just 100,000 ETH (0.1%). At a 5% yield, it could only fund about $10 million in grants. In contrast, Ethereum treasuries – including BitMine and Sharplink – now hold 7% of circulating supply and generate $500 million annually at a 3% yield, providing a new funding source for the ecosystem. BitMine alone accounts for 4.5% of total ETH supply and 65% of all treasury holdings. Drawing analogies to CTIA in mobile communications, the Semiconductor Industry Association, and the National Association of Broadcasters, Lee explained that Ethereum’s decentralization requires moving from a single foundation to coordination by private-sector entities. Multiple companies are already building profitable Layer 2 products, and at least five entities will be spun off from the Foundation, with BitMine providing financial support.
BitMine: The Excess Return of Treasury Stock
Lee detailed BitMine’s moves during the crypto winter: an investment in AI identity firm Eightco (ORBS), which holds stakes in Worldcoin, OpenAI, and MrBeast and is deeply undervalued; the launch of MAVAN, the world’s largest staking operator, managing about $14 billion in assets and generating $1 million per day from its own staked ETH; and an investment in MrBeast, whose revenue exceeded $1 billion with over 50% growth, and who is entering banking to target 120 million Gen Z and Gen Alpha individuals. A massive $50–60 trillion wealth transfer will flow to these generations over the next 20 years. Bitmine also uplisted to the NYSE and qualified for inclusion in the Russell 1000 index on June 26. With only 25 institutional holders currently, the vast majority of the 1,600 active managers benchmarking to the index will have to decide whether to hold BitMine. Lee highlighted that when ETH rose 22% in the second half of last year, BitMine surged 500%, and it has outperformed on the downside this year. With a 90% correlation, a $250,000 ETH would value BitMine shares at $5,000, while a $22,000 ETH would imply $500 per share. His closing message: those who are bearish today are selling at the bottom.
