HomeCrypto NewsTom Lee: Ethereum could reach $250,000

Tom Lee: Ethereum could reach $250,000

Posted: 4 June 2026, 08:02 CET 2 min read

Tom Lee, BitMine chairman and Fundstrat co‑founder, told a Paris conference he expects Ethereum to hit $250,000 long term as AI agents and tokenized assets raise network demand.

Tom Lee, chairman of BitMine Immersion Technologies and co‑founder of Fundstrat, projected at the Proof of Talk conference in Paris that Ethereum could reach $250,000 over the long term. He linked the forecast to rising demand from autonomous AI agents and platforms that tokenize real‑world assets.

Lee argued that autonomous AI agents will need instant settlement for machine‑to‑machine transactions and that legacy payment systems cannot provide that. He suggested Ethereum could serve as the base currency for buying automated computing power, with tokenized assets and stablecoins operating on top of the network.

At the time of his remarks, Ethereum had slipped below $2,000 after a 12.6% decline in May and a single‑day drop of about 5% around the conference. U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs recorded net redemptions of $2.43 billion in May. Derivatives markets showed heavy short positioning and futures open interest reached a record 16 million ETH on May 28.

Lee addressed bearish sentiment at the Paris event. “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,” he told the audience.

He pointed to changes in supply and governance within the Ethereum ecosystem. The Ethereum Foundation holds about 100,000 ETH, roughly 0.1% of the total supply after several years of reductions. Lee noted that corporate validators have increased their holdings, with BitMine and Sharklink together controlling about 7% of circulating ETH.

BitMine recently purchased 111,942 ETH and holds nearly 5.4 million ETH, according to Lee. The firm’s staking operations generate roughly $500 million in annual rewards. BitMine will qualify for Russell 1000 inclusion effective June 26, a development that could affect index‑tracking investors.

Lee described the $250,000 figure as a long‑term structural valuation rather than a short‑term price call. The gap between current market prices and his projection remains substantial.