Tom Lee says ETH hits $250,000, with his own company as the tell

Fundstrat's Tom Lee (@fundstrat) used a keynote at the Proof of Talk conference in Paris on June 2 to deliver his boldest Ethereum call yet, predicting $ETH would first reach $5,000 and then run another 50x to $250,000, with no specific timeline attached to either target.

The Thesis: AI and Tokenization

Lee argues the move will be driven by artificial intelligence. As advanced software and automated computing take over the internet, machines will need a way to pay each other instantly, without relying on traditional bank infrastructure. He also pointed to a structural shift in network governance, noting that the Ethereum Foundation has wound its holdings down to just 100,000 ETH, while large public companies are stepping in to run the network as corporate validators. Corporate entities like Bitmine and Sharklink now collectively control 7% of the entire circulating Ethereum supply, and these corporate treasuries generate an estimated $500 million in staking rewards each year to fund the ecosystem.

Ether was trading at around $1,906 when Lee made the call, down 6% over the prior 24 hours.

Know Who Is Talking

The prediction did not come from a detached analyst. Lee chairs @BitMNR (Bitmine Immersion Technologies), the world's largest corporate Ethereum treasury. As of May 31, 2026, Bitmine held 5.42 million ETH, equal to 4.49% of the token's circulating supply, with combined crypto, cash, and other holdings totalling $11.6 billion. The company had staked 4.72 million of those tokens through its MAVAN validator platform.

Lee drew a direct line between the price target and Bitmine's stock. At $250,000 per $ETH, he argued, Bitmine shares would be worth $5,000, against a price of around $18 at the time of the conference. Bitmine's stock has fallen more than 88% from its July 2025 peak to its early 2026 low, even as Lee continued buying ETH and describing the drawdown as a market feature rather than a flaw.

In a filing from the same week, Lee stated that Bitmine continues to expect "a supercycle ahead for crypto and Ethereum, driven by the dual drivers of Wall Street tokenization and agentic-AI," and that the firm now owns nearly 5.4 million ETH tokens. The aggressive accumulation pace makes Lee's public price calls difficult to separate from his firm's commercial interests, a tension worth keeping in mind when weighing the forecast.

Sources:
CoinDesk: Tom Lee predicts ether will hit $250,000 as corporate validators take over network control
Bitmine SEC Form 8-K (May 25, 2026): ETH Holdings and Treasury Update
The Globe and Mail: BitMine Expands Massive Ethereum Treasury and Staking Platform