Is AI Money Rotating Into Ethereum? Tom Lee Cites 72% Outperformance
Tom Lee says the AI trade is changing lanes. He points to Ethereum (ETH) beating the Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM) by 72% in relative terms this month, a sign of AI money rotating into Ethereum.
ETH rose 24% in his chart window while the memory fund fell 38%. Lee co-founded research firm Fundstrat and now chairs BitMine, one of the largest holders of ETH.
ETH Up 24%, Memory Fund Down 38%
Lee shared the chart Monday in a post. The 72% is the rise in Lee’s ratio chart. It divides BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA) by the memory fund. That ratio climbed from 100 to 172 between June 25 and July 21.
“The “AI downstream” relative performance continues to strengthen – $ETH vs $DRAM relative outperformance in the past month gained to 7,200bp, or 72 percentage points – ETH up +24% vs $DRAM ETF down -38%”
The DRAM ETF is new. Roundhill launched it in April as the first fund built only on memory chipmakers. SK Hynix and Samsung alone make up about 41% of it, data shows.
Investors piled in fast. The fund raised $6.5 billion in 27 trading days, the fastest ETF launch on record. It peaked at $81.34 before the slide. Lee’s 38% drop measures from June 25.
Ether, meanwhile, trades near $1,921, up 1.5% in a day. BeInCrypto rankings data shows ETH up 10.9% over 30 days. Lee’s bigger 24% measures from June 25, when his chart starts.
ETH also sits 61% below its August 2025 peak of $4,946. So the winner of this trade is still climbing out of its own hole.
AI Money Rotating Into Ethereum, or Just a Memory Reset?
Lee’s case is simple. Wall Street is building on Ethereum, not just trading it. He points to BlackRock’s tokenized BUIDL fund and Robinhood Chain, which pays its fees in ETH. That drives Ethereum’s institutional bull case.
He also compares ETH to Amazon, which sat near $6 for 12 years before its market grew. Big wallets lean his way for now. BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes resumed buying, adding $2.53 million in ETH on Monday.
However, the memory story is not dead. Jefferies expects memory prices to climb about 50% this quarter. Supply is so tight that a US lawsuit accuses chipmakers of engineering a 700% DRAM price spike.
The ETF’s slide may simply be a reset after a wild run. SanDisk sank 14%, Micron 5%, and Seagate 10% in one July session on memory supply glut fears.
One caveat. Lee’s BitMine holds 5.77 million ETH, about 4.8% of all supply. If his rotation call wins, he wins with it.
What settles the question? Memory earnings and Ethereum ETF flows in the coming weeks.
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