Bitmine's Tom Lee tips Ethereum to win as chip selloff deepens

Fundstrat’s Tom Lee has stated that Ethereum is set to benefit from the artificial intelligence boom, publishing his case on Friday, July 17, the same day a global rout in chip stocks erased over $3.3 trillion in market value and pushed semiconductors to the edge of a bear market.

Lee, who founded the Ether treasury company Bitmine Immersion Technologies (NYSE: BMNR) and is the current chairman, called Ethereum “a key AI downstream story” in a post on X. 

Lee added that AI systems will need guardrails, and consumers are unlikely to trust governments, big technology firms, or banks to protect them. 

In a chairman message released on July 16, under the title “ETH is the Cure for the Uncanny Valley of Wealth,” Lee spoke on two exponential tailwinds for Ethereum and also mentioned that crypto’s headwinds of 2026 are ending. He also said that Bitmine is primed for the next bull cycle.

Lee’s bullish note landed during one of the year’s worst sessions for technology equities.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell by 4.8% on Friday, extending a month-to-date drop of about 20% that carried it into technical bear-market territory. 

Other reports put the scale of the damage at around $3.3 trillion wiped from global chip stocks since June 22, with the index sitting less than 1% above the level that would confirm a 20% decline from its June high. 

Nvidia fell by 3.7%, with Apple reclaiming its title as the world’s most valuable company. Arm dropped 7%, and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) fell 7.8%.

TSMC also dropped by 7.29%. Netflix fell more than 9% after disappointing forecasts, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 shed 4.03% and South Korea’s KOSPI slid 6.37% before its market closed. Traders say that the crash was triggered by fading conviction that the AI-driven rally will hold.

Crypto did not escape the risk-off mood. Bitcoin traded near $63,200 on Friday, down about 2%.

What is Lee actually selling?

Lee’s Ethereum thesis rests on a view that has support beyond Bitmine’s own marketing. BlackRock’s CEO Larry Fink has called Ethereum “the toll road to tokenization,” a line his former head of crypto Joseph Chalom repeated in March, pointing to the network’s role in moving traditional assets on-chain. 

This week, SBI, one of Japan’s largest financial groups with 78 million customers, chose Ethereum to issue JPYSC, described as Japan’s first trust-based yen stablecoin, built with Startale Group.

Apollo Global Management’s Torsten Sløk warned that a mistimed pullback by AI hyperscalers “would risk tipping the economy into recession and the S&P 500 into a correction.” 

However, not everyone is bearish. UBS Wealth Management’s Charlie Anderson forecast the S&P 500 would reach 7,900 by year-end, saying that the market has shifted from macro headlines to company fundamentals.

Bitmine’s own numbers cut against the pitch

Bitmine holds 5.77 million ETH, about 4.8% of the total supply and 96% of the way to its stated goal of owning 5%, Cryptopolitan reported. But with ETH trading around $1,840, which is well below the firm’s average cost of roughly $3,997 per token, Bitmine is carrying an unrealized loss of about $9 billion. 

BMNR has traded near 52-week lows, and the company’s market value has fallen below the worth of the ETH on its balance sheet.

The company is leaning on staking to bridge the gap. Bitmine has staked about 4.92 million ETH, which is 85% of its position, earning a 2.7% annualized yield that Lee projects will generate around $242 million a year. This is enough to cover the 9.5% dividend on the preferred stock it issued in June.

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