Tom Lee Predicts $250,000 Ethereum on AI, Tokenization

Tom Lee, chairman of BitMine Immersion Technologies and co-founder of Fundstrat, told attendees at the Proof of Talk conference in Paris that he expects Ethereum to reach $250,000 in the long term. He described the projection as roughly a 50-fold increase from current levels and framed Ethereum as a potential settlement layer for machine-to-machine transactions driven by autonomous AI agents and tokenized real-world assets.

Lee said autonomous AI agents will increase demand for instant settlement that legacy payment systems cannot deliver. He proposed that Ethereum could become the default currency for automated computing purchases, with platforms that tokenize real-world assets operating on top of the base network. He also pointed to growth in stablecoins and tokenized assets on Ethereum as factors that could raise on-chain transaction volumes and settlement demand.

Lee made the remarks while Ether was trading near $1,873, down about 5% over 24 hours, with a market capitalization near $226.2 billion. He noted that ETH fell below $2,000 in early June after a 12.6% decline in May and attributed part of the pressure to large outflows from U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs, which he said saw net redemptions of $2.43 billion in May. He added that derivatives positioning has increased selling pressure, with short positions dominating and futures open interest reaching a record 16 million ETH on May 28.

On network governance and supply, Lee said the Ethereum Foundation has reduced its holdings to about 100,000 ETH, roughly 0.1% of total supply, after years of divestment. He reported that corporate validators are filling that gap, with BitMine and Sharklink together controlling about 7% of circulating supply. BitMine’s holdings rose to nearly 5.4 million ETH after a recent purchase of 111,942 ETH. The company reports roughly $500 million in annual staking rewards and will qualify for Russell 1000 inclusion effective June 26.

Lee characterized current market pessimism as an opportunity for long-term investors. Addressing the Paris audience, he said, “If you are bearish today, you are selling at the bottom. I can’t emphasize enough, if you’re bearish today, you are bearish at the bottom for Bitcoin and Ethereum.”

Lee described his $250,000 projection as extending beyond an earlier 2026 forecast and as positioning Ethereum more as financial infrastructure than a speculative token. He said the gap between current prices and his target depends on increased use of Ethereum by autonomous AI agents, expansion of tokenized assets and stablecoins on the chain, and continued accumulation by corporate stakers.