Tom Lee (톰 리), founder and current chairman of Bitmine Immersion Technologies, has singled out Ethereum as an asset that will benefit from the spread of artificial intelligence. On July 17, blockchain outlet Cryptopolitan reported that Lee wrote on X that Ethereum is a "key downstream beneficiary of AI."

Lee said that as AI systems spread, safeguards will be needed to control them. He also said consumers are unlikely to trust governments, big tech companies or banks to take on that role.

He made a similar argument in a chairman’s message released on July 16 titled, "ETH is the solution to heal the uncanny valley of wealth." He said two exponential tailwinds are at work for Ethereum and that headwinds in the crypto market in 2026 are easing. He added that Bitmine is prepared for the next bull market.

The comments came on a day when selling pressure in semiconductor stocks intensified. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 4.8 percent on July 17, and its decline this month reached about 20 percent, pushing it to the threshold of a technical bear market. Estimates also showed about $3.3 trillion in global semiconductor market value has been wiped out since June 22. Nvidia fell 3.7 percent, Arm 7 percent, AMD 7.8 percent and TSMC 7.29 percent. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 4.03 percent and South Korea's KOSPI was down 6.37 percent before the close. Bitcoin traded around $63,200 on July 17, down about 2 percent.

Tokenisation use was cited as a factor behind the bullish view on Ethereum. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink called Ethereum a "toll road for tokenisation," and BlackRock's former head of crypto Joseph Chalom in March also stressed Ethereum's role in moving traditional assets on-chain. Japan's financial group SBI this week chose Ethereum as the issuance network for JPYSC, introduced as Japan's first trust-type yen stablecoin, together with the Startale Group.

Bitmine's financial condition, however, runs counter to the optimism. Bitmine holds 5.77 million ETH. That is about 4.8 percent of total supply and about 96 percent of the company's stated goal of securing 5 percent. With ETH priced at about $1,840, below its average purchase price of about $3,997, its unrealised loss totals about $9 billion. BMNR's market capitalisation has also fallen below the value of its ETH holdings.

Bitmine is supplementing returns through staking. It is staking about 4.92 million ETH, or 85 percent of its holdings, for an annualised yield of 2.7 percent. Lee said this could generate about $242 million a year, enough to cover the 9.5 percent dividend on preferred shares issued in June.