Tom Lee Uses BlackRock’s Bitcoin Report to Pitch Ethereum as AI’s Verification Layer

Tom Lee, chairman of Bitmine Immersion Technologies, said BlackRock’s new Bitcoin report reinforces the case for Ethereum (ETH). He pointed to artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics as the reason.

BlackRock’s paper, called “Re-Underwriting Bitcoin,” examined Bitcoin’s more than 50% decline from its October 2025 high. It said capital had rotated into AI-themed equity funds instead.

What Lee Argued

Lee, who also co-founded Fundstrat, wrote on X that AI capabilities are advancing along a steep S-curve. He said recent research points to AI systems developing a form of collective coordination.

🧵1/Crypto more relevant today given the rapidly increasing capabilities of AI and robotics. Agree with @BlackRock take to see growing use cases. In our view, @ethereum $ETH will be the most important L1tickers: $BMNR $BMNP https://t.co/HOcHgJrD68

— Thomas (Tom) Lee (not drummer) FundstratDirect.com (@fundstrat) August 18, 2026

Blockchains and smart contracts, he argued, keep humans involved in overseeing that behavior. He extended the same logic to robotics, citing a video of a robot outperforming human athletes.

In the same post, Lee called Ethereum the most important base layer, or “L1.” The term describes the foundational network that other blockchain applications rely on.

“we see $ETH as an important downstream story for AI”

Where the Case Gets Thin

But BlackRock’s report never mentions Ethereum, robotics, or blockchain verification of AI systems. Instead, its authors frame AI-linked equity funds as competition for capital, not a use case for smart contracts.

Still, Lee’s framing goes further than the report itself. BlackRock links Bitcoin’s pullback to leverage and shifting fund flows, not a change in Bitcoin’s role as a monetary hedge.

This is not the first time Lee has tied Ethereum to the AI trade. Bitmine holds about 4.8% of Ethereum’s circulating supply, making Lee one of the asset’s largest institutional stakeholders.

That position gives Lee a clear financial incentive to link Ethereum to major crypto narratives, including Bitcoin’s own investment case.

Ethereum trades near $1,908 as of Aug. 19, 2026, according to CoinGecko data. Whether Lee’s AI-and-robotics framing gains wider traction may depend on concrete examples of blockchains verifying autonomous systems in practice.