What is Tom Lee's view on the Bitcoin supercycle?

Author: Podcast Master Investor

On January 20th, Tom Lee, Chairman of Ethereum treasury Bitmine Immersion and Co-founder and Head of Research at Fundstrat Global Advisors, was invited to participate in an interview on the Master Investor podcast hosted by Wilfred Frost.

In the interview, Tom Lee discussed cutting-edge industry topics such as Ethereum, Bitcoin, tokenization, AI, the gold and silver price surge, energy, Gold Planet, and Tether.

Tom Lee believes we are in the early stages of a 10-year bull market that began in 2022, and while he predicts a significant bear-market-like correction this year, the stock market will close strongly by the end of 2026. He analyzes three major shifts investors must navigate this year: a new Federal Reserve, more aggressive government intervention in the market, and the still-repricing AI narrative, explaining why he remains bullish on the "Big Seven." He believes Bitcoin remains "digital gold," driven by the increasing utility of cryptocurrencies. For example, traditional finance is embracing blockchain, and the concepts of settlement and finality work very well on it. Then companies like Tether, as a cryptocurrency-based bank, are proving that a bank natively emerging on the blockchain is actually better than a traditional bank. For example, Tether is projected to earn nearly $20 billion in revenue by 2026. This would place it among the top five banks in terms of profitability. In terms of valuation, they are likely second only to JPMorgan Chase, and twice the valuation of Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley. Tether has only 300 full-time employees. JPMorgan Chase has 300,000. So by using blockchain, they earn almost as much as, or even more than, any bank. And they have less than 1% of the M1 money supply and a very small balance sheet. Yet it is one of the most profitable banks in the world. Ethereum remains his favorite cryptocurrency. Compared to four years ago, Ethereum is a superior blockchain because tokenization (including dollar tokenization) is one of the major trends Wall Street is betting on. Larry Fink calls this the biggest innovation since double-entry bookkeeping. Robinhood's Vlad wants to tokenize everything. We've seen a lot of effort not only to tokenize the dollar (i.e., stablecoins) but also to tokenize credit funds. JPMorgan is launching money market funds on Ethereum. BlackRock has already tokenized credit funds on Ethereum. So Ethereum is indeed the blockchain that Wall Street is starting to use. If Ethereum's price-to-earnings ratio recovers to its 2021 highs and Bitcoin rises to $250,000, Ethereum will be around $12,000. Tom Lee also addressed the high-profile $200 million investment by Bitmine in MrBeast's Beast Industries, explaining why he considers MrBeast one of the most iconic media assets of this generation, and how financial education and Ethereum can be central to future products that reach a billion users globally. The following is the podcast transcript: (slightly edited) Q: Tom, welcome back to the Master Investor podcast. It was an honor to host you in person in London. Tom Lee: Yes, it's great to see you, Wolf. Happy New Year 2026. It's also very cool to be in London, of course. Q: Yes, it's really great to have you here. I highly recommend everyone listen back to our August episode. In particular, we reviewed Tom's successful predictions over the past 10 to 15 years. In short, without spoiling that episode, it's about how you've maintained a roughly correct bullish outlook over such a long period. So please listen back to that episode to get a full understanding of Tom's thinking. As we begin 2026, Tom, I see you predicted the early-year rally quite accurately, followed by a pullback, which I think was quite significant, and then a rally at the end of the year. Is this a fair description of your 2026 outlook? Tom Lee: Yes, absolutely. I think when we look back at the end of this year, I think 2026 looks like it will be a continuation of the bull market that started in 2022. It's definitely a period of greater economic resilience. But at the same time, I think the market has to deal with two substantial shifts. Maybe three. One, of course, is the new Federal Reserve. Markets always test new Feds. This process of identification, confirmation, and market testing can trigger pullbacks. I think in 2026, our view is that the White House will be more deliberate in picking winners and losers. In 2025, this caused a lot of disruption to the technology, IT consulting, and healthcare industries. And this year, there are more industries, sectors, and even countries that are being targeted. I think this will create uncertainty. You can see that in the rise in gold. So I think these two factors could lead to a pullback in 2026. Q: You mentioned two factors, perhaps there's a third. Tom Lee: Yes. The third factor is that the market is still trying to understand how much AI is priced in. Our view is that it's still a strong narrative. But as you know, questions remain about its sustainability, how much energy we really need, and data center capacity. So until the market is reassured by other, stronger narratives—and I think there are many of them—the ISM index is rising. I think housing may recover as interest rates fall. But this shift also introduces uncertainty. So I suspect these three factors combined could lead to a pullback that feels like a bear market. Q: So what does this imply, like a 20% pullback from the top to the bottom, or more or less? Tom Lee: Yes. Maybe 10%. By the way, if it's 10%, it feels like a bear market. But it could be 15%. Maybe 20%. But it could bring us back to where we started the year because we had a strong start. Maybe we'll see a year-to-date loss sometime this year. But then I think we'll close out the year strongly. Q: When we talked in August, you said we were at or near the start of a 10-year bull market. Is that still your outlook? I think another way to put it is that once a pullback occurs, you'll slam your fist on the table and say it's a fantastic buying opportunity. Tom Lee: Exactly. Every pullback is a fantastic opportunity. Last year, the tariff-related pullback on April 7th proved to be one of the best entry points for anyone to buy stocks over the past five years. So many stocks hit all-time highs, and it was an explosive rally. So I think this year, if what we expect happens, it will be a fantastic buying opportunity. Q: When you mentioned in August that you believed this was a new 10-year bull market, you said the reasons were a surge in the prime-age workforce, a generation inheriting vast amounts of wealth, and the U.S. being at the center of a lot of innovation, particularly AI and blockchain. Are you still confident in all three of these long-term factors? Tom Lee: Yes. In fact, I think these four factors still seem quite obvious. The U.S. does have a favorable demographic tailwind, which contrasts sharply with other countries that are experiencing a deficit in their prime working-age workforce. Regarding inherited wealth, I think there's been a lot of discussion about that. Generation Z, Millennials, and Alphas are all expected to inherit huge sums of money in their lifetime. It's strange because it really creates wealth inequality. There will be some very wealthy Generation Z, Alphas, and Millennials, while others will, of course, have to live their own lives and accumulate personal wealth. Then, regarding AI, I would say that the evidence that we are moving towards superintelligence is accelerating, and I think there's been a lot of progress in robotics and robotic integration. So these are all factors that favor the U.S. Then, regarding blockchain, it's no longer just BlackRock and Robinhood. Jamie Dimon has publicly stated that he believes blockchain really solves many problems in financial services. So I think the banking industry is starting to embrace the efficiency of blockchain. Q: It's clear you still strongly believe in the long-term bull market argument after a pullback. How can we pinpoint as accurately as possible when the first pullback will occur? I was listening to your recent appearance on CNBC where you pointed out that the market peaks when good news emerges, which is somewhat counterintuitive. Have we already received that kind of good news that could point to a short-term top? Tom Lee: It's hard to say. It's a bit like anecdotal evidence, but our institutional clients aren't that bullish right now. Unless we reach a point where public and institutional positioning means that good news no longer drives the market up, I think there's still room for stocks to rise. That's why the strong performance of the stock market in the first week of January is a good sign, and it looks like we'll close the month with positive returns. This indicates strong momentum earlier this year. Margin debt is an indicator we can keep an eye on, and we've been tracking it. The NYSE's margin debt is at a historical high, but it's only up 39% year-over-year. Typically, for a local market top, you'd want to see a 60% year-over-year increase. So basically, there's still a chance for leverage to accelerate before we can mark a local top.

Q:Let's talk about some macro factors. I want to start with trade, because I know one thing you said last year was that the trade war wasn't as bad as it could have been. Over the weekend, the tariff threats related to Greenland were more directed at the UK and the EU. It looks like the UK will hold back. The EU might retaliate. Is this a short-term concern for you?

Tom Lee: Yes and no. I think last year investors adopted a "fire first, aim later" approach.

Tom Lee: Yes and no. I think last year investors took a "fire first, aim later" approach.

Whenever they see tariff talks escalate and become uncertain, the market reacts really badly and drops sharply. I think this year, the market will be more measured. Assuming the reaction is halved, there is still uncertainty about how the Supreme Court will rule on tariffs. Perhaps if the ruling is against Trump, then it looks like the US's leverage has decreased, so the White House might take more extreme measures. This could lead to even greater uncertainty. I've been watching the news all weekend. Some people are suggesting that the Supreme Court might actually rule in Trump's favor. I really don't know.

Q:Another big macro question about the Fed, ironically, when we talked in August, it was around the time of the attempted lawsuit against Lisa Cook. Obviously, there's a more high-profile lawsuit attempt this time. Overall, your view at the time was that Fed rate cuts were good for the market, but questioning Fed intervention was bad for the market. I don't think you took the idea of ​​intervention too seriously. How do you summarize this outlook today?

Q:Another big macro question about the Fed, ironically, when we talked in August, it was around the time of the attempted lawsuit against Lisa Cook. Obviously, there's a more high-profile lawsuit attempt this time.

Q:Let's talk about how people should position themselves beneath the surface. Have the "Big Seven" or "Big Ten," these largest stocks, already overvalued? Aren't they the right choice for 2026?

Tom Lee: We still like the "Big Seven" because we have confidence in their earnings growth. So, as long as their valuations don't decline, they should actually outperform the market. But this year, our preferred sectors are energy and basic materials.

So in early December, we identified them as our favorite sector picks. Part of the reason was mean reversion trading. Energy and basic materials have performed so badly over the past five years, and if you look at their performance over the past 75 years, this level of underperformance usually marks a turning point. Then I think some of the geopolitical events happening will benefit both groups. But I think another thing this year is that the ISM index could break 50. Coupled with the Fed cutting rates, this means there are opportunities in industrials, financials, and small-cap stocks. So I like the "Big Seven," but I think cyclical stocks might be a more interesting trade this year.

Q:Let's talk about energy first, because I noticed you're not bullish on oil prices in the short term, but you're bullish on energy stocks.

Tom Lee: Exactly. What I've learned is that oil prices and energy stocks are not correlated.

Part of the reason is that energy stocks are pricing in future oil price levels. I think we may see weak or volatile oil prices in the near term. But everything from data centers to this shift away from alternative energy sources will push up future oil prices. That's why energy stocks have been able to outperform the market. Question: Basic materials, obviously for companies involved in metals, have seen incredible gains in their underlying commodities. Perhaps we'll touch on this later when we talk about cryptocurrencies. What if there's a pullback? Will these stocks perform worse? Does your bullish view on them require gold, silver, and copper to remain strong? Tom Lee: Yes, I mean, if gold, silver, and copper have negative returns this year, then basic materials as a trade doesn't work. But one of our beliefs is that gold has been very volatile, but silver and copper are going to have a good year. As you know, copper is an industrial metal, and I think it's linked to the ISM index. So if copper has room to rise, I think it will drive up basic materials stocks. Q: When we talked in August, you were very bullish on financial stocks. That was a great prediction. Obviously, they've had a great run. When I look at the charts of some of these stocks, I can hardly believe it compared to when I was closely watching them in the past. Do you still like them at this level? By price-to-book ratio, they're not cheap now, are they? Tom Lee: Yes, they're not cheap. But I think they're being re-evaluated in a positive way in terms of the sustainability of their business models. I think banks have invested heavily in technology and AI, and they are truly huge beneficiaries of the coming super-intelligence. The biggest expense for banks is payroll. So I think banks can reduce their reliance on employees in the future, which means their profit margins will rise, and then their earnings volatility will decrease. I think they will get a revaluation more like tech stocks. When I started doing research in the 90s, banks typically had price-to-book ratios of only one or ten times earnings. I think they should get a market premium multiple.

Q:I heard you say some things on the Prof G podcast that surprised me because, as you said, you're still constructive. For most of the past 15 years, your constructive attitude has been correct and early. But you said only 10% of AI stocks will be good investments in the next decade. But you still like the sector.

Tom Lee: Yes. I think that's true for any exponentially growing sector.

Tom Lee: Yes. I think that's true for any exponentially growing sector.

For example, when we look back at the internet, if you look at a basket of stocks, say in 2000, 25 years ago, I think only 2% of the entire stock market actually survived. But that 2% generated returns that significantly outperformed the S&P 500, even assuming you lost money on the other 98%. So I think in the AI ​​space, probably over 90% of the entire stock market basket will ultimately be bad investments. But winning investments will be enough to offset that loss. Question: I think the difference today might be that there aren't as many publicly traded companies. I don't know if this increases or decreases risk for participants. The average investor doesn't have access to all of these companies. Tom Lee: Yes, that's a good question because companies going public today are in a more mature, later stage. But that seems to be changing. I think for the first time we're seeing companies now more interested in going public, not entirely through IPOs, but some through SPACs. I think that, coupled with the alternative investment space—VC, private equity, private lending—where investors, the LPs (limited partners), aren't really getting allocated. So I think money is moving from alternative investments to the public markets, which is driving more things into the public markets to some extent. But you're right. Despite what we're saying, I've seen a lot of publicly traded stocks go through a lot of volatility in the last 12 months. So I think there are still a lot of opportunities. Q: Regarding those mega-cap tech giants, it's really interesting when you think about their multiples, and I think that's largely justified due to their growth rates. Once again, a conversation you had on another podcast caught my attention about these companies evolving into consumer staples companies, which can command premium multiples for various reasons. I think that got me to it. I mean, Warren Buffett basically sniffed this out about Apple before the rest of us. Is that what we mean when we talk about certain mega-stocks, that even if Nvidia's growth slows, it can actually maintain its current multiple? Tom Lee: Yes, absolutely. I think some listeners should recall Apple, from its IPO in the 80s, when analysts insisted that Apple was a hardware company. For years they couldn't get over the fact that Apple's P/E ratio shouldn't exceed 10. Yet their services business grew. They certainly created an entire ecosystem and retention model that really shows Apple is more than just a hardware company. But I remember even during 2015, 2016, and 2017, when I met with institutions, they still said Apple was a hardware company. And now, of course, Apple has been completely revalued. I think people view Nvidia as a cyclical hardware company, which is why they barely give it a 26x multiple, even though, as you know, Nvidia is essentially a company with high visibility into future earnings, yet it's trading at half the multiple of Costco. I think these stocks have significant room for revaluation. Question: If the macroeconomic outlook is worse than expected, or anyway, when we experience the market correction you foresee, assuming the S&P 500 corrects by 20%, will these stocks fall less than the market, like consumer staples companies? Or are they still in the high-beta phase of growth companies, so that when we have this kind of correction this year, the world's Nvidias will fall more than the S&P 500? Tom Lee: Yes, that's a good question, because the leading decliners in a pullback will be crowded trades, as that's when people have to reduce risk. So that makes sense, oh, the "Big Seven" are heavily invested. Will people reduce risk? But as you know, when people are nervous, maybe they'll flock to the "Big Seven." So to me, it's possible that non-US stocks will be where the pullback will occur, because that's where a lot of money has been made. I mean, non-US stocks outperformed US stocks significantly last year. Therefore, if trade tensions escalate and the global economic outlook is uncertain, that might be where the pullback will be even bigger. Question: So, are you referring to the overall market? Or specifically tech stocks, like ASML and TSMC in this world? Tom Lee: Oh, I think it's a broader scope. So it could be the MSCI World Index. Q: Yes, that's interesting. Let's talk about some recent Tom Lee-specific success stories, because Granny Shots, as I mentioned in the introduction, is your ETF or a series of ETFs, which you explained to us in August. When we last talked, it was around $2 to $2.5 billion. Now those ETFs have $4.5 billion in assets under management. Tom Lee: Yes, those three funds total $4.7 billion. Q: The main one is over $4 billion. Tom Lee: Yes, that's Granny (GRNY). GRNY is the largest. GRANNYJ is a small-cap fund that launched last November and now has approximately $355 million in assets. Then there's the income-oriented GRANNY, which is the income-generating Granny. It paid its first dividend in December. That's usually when asset accumulation starts to rise, because now there's a published yield. The target yield is around, or I think the published yield is 10%. That fund is about $55 million. Q: Looking at the next year, is now a good time to buy small-cap or income-generating stocks instead of traditional stocks? Tom Lee: Well, I'm not one to time the market. For example, last January, Mark Newton kind of warned of a potential pullback. It turned out to be 20%. Much bigger than we expected. But we still wanted people to stay fully invested. People made their money back in July. I think small and mid-cap stocks have been underperforming for too long, and even a pullback won't break the fact that small-caps can have a five- or six-year winning streak. So I still want to own it. But if the market goes down, the Granny won't go up. So I think anyone buying these ETFs should be aware of that. But they bought the strongest companies related to the most important themes. So to me, they should be more resilient during pullbacks, and of course, stronger during recovery.

Q:Let's talk about gold, and then cryptocurrencies. Why do you think gold performed so well last year?

Tom Lee: I think there are some very obvious reasons and some implicit reasons. For me, the obvious reasons for gold's good performance are, firstly, I think there is more political and geopolitical uncertainty in the investment environment because of the wars. Of course, we have a president in the US, and I think he has done a good job on the economy, but he has exacerbated divisions and uncertainty on global trade. Secondly, central banks around the world are generally easing. In the US, we have finally entered an easing cycle, including the end of quantitative tightening (QT). This should support gold. The reason it's hidden is, firstly, I believe Tether, the largest stablecoin provider in the US, has become the largest private buyer of gold. Because there's already enough collateral, each stablecoin unit is backed by Treasury bonds. But they generate revenue. Using these excess returns, they are buying gold. So I believe they have been the largest net buyer since July. Q: You say you believe this, are you aware of this? Tom Lee: Yes, I think we've looked at the data. Q: So how large are their purchases relative to the central banks around the world that have recently been major buyers? Tom Lee: Wilfred, sorry. I don't know how to quantify it. But I believe there's probably only one central bank that could buy more than Tether. Q: Wow. Because it's not being talked about much. Tom Lee: No, not really. But if you look, a simple way to observe is to look at Tether's USDT issuance and the price of gold since July. They are highly correlated. But I think the second factor is a study we did in 2018 that showed investment preferences jump between generations. So Baby Boomers like gold. Millennials like hedge funds. Sorry, Baby Boomers like gold. Generation X likes hedge funds. But now, the millennials entering their prime working years like what their grandparents liked, and that's gold. So I think there's a renewed interest in gold. These are two hidden reasons.

Q:I used to like gold. I just turned millennial. But I sold too early. So that's it. About that interesting snapshot. So my question about gold is, whether you think it is—and I think different generations will have different answers—as the ultimate currency, or as a commodity like the other metals you listed earlier, such as copper and silver, and many other metals with industrial uses. Because this suddenly changes our view of all the returns we've been focusing on last year. You know, JPMorgan did very well. Nvidia had another good year. Stocks went up 20% here or there. If you consider gold as the ultimate safety net, then they actually went down. Correct. Is that what you think?

Q:I used to like gold. I just happened to be a millennial. But I sold too early. So that's it.

Q:Does this mean you admit that Bitcoin is not digital gold?

Tom Lee: Bitcoin is digital gold, but the people who believe this argument are not the same people who own gold. Therefore, I think the future adoption curve for cryptocurrency will still be higher than that for gold, because there are more people holding gold than holding cryptocurrency. But the road to increasing adoption will be very bumpy.

I think 2026 will be a very important test, because if Bitcoin hits a new all-time high, we'll know that the deleveraging event is over. Q: Your target price for Bitcoin this year is $250,000. Tom Lee: Yes, we believe Bitcoin will hit a new high this year. Q: What's driving that? Tom Lee: Well, I think it's driven by the increasing utility of cryptocurrencies. We know that banks, for example, are embracing blockchain, and the concepts of settlement and finality work very well on it. Then companies like Tether, as a cryptocurrency-based bank, are proving that a bank that emerges natively on the blockchain is actually better than a traditional bank. For example, Tether is projected to earn nearly $20 billion in revenue by 2026. This would place it in the top five in terms of bank profits. In terms of valuation, they are likely second only to JPMorgan Chase, twice the valuation of Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley. Tether has only 300 full-time employees. JPMorgan Chase has 300,000. So by using blockchain, they are making almost as much money as, or even more than, any bank. And they have less than 1% of the M1 money supply and a very small balance sheet. Yet it is one of the most profitable banks in the world.

Q:Let's talk about Ethereum.

Q:Let's talk about Ethereum.

Obviously, you explained to us in August that you're a believer in both Bitcoin and Ethereum. You love both, but you're more bullish on Ethereum in the long run. Why did it drop so much in the fourth quarter of last year? Tom Lee: Ethereum is the second largest blockchain. I think its volatility will always be higher than Bitcoin's until it becomes similar in size. The crypto world views Ethereum as a price ratio against Bitcoin. So, if you simply say ETH to BTC, assuming Bitcoin is the unit of account in the crypto world, the Ethereum-to-Bitcoin price ratio is still lower than it was in 2021 (four years ago). Ethereum is a superior blockchain compared to four years ago because we know that tokenization (including dollar tokenization) is one of the big trends that Wall Street is betting on. I mean, Larry Fink said it's the biggest innovation since double-entry bookkeeping. Vlad of Robinhood wants to tokenize everything. We've seen a lot of effort not only to tokenize the dollar (i.e., stablecoins) but also to tokenize credit funds. JPMorgan is launching money market funds on Ethereum. BlackRock has already tokenized credit funds on Ethereum. So Ethereum is indeed the blockchain that Wall Street is starting to use. If Ethereum's price ratios recover to their 2021 highs and Bitcoin rises to $250,000, Ethereum will be around $12,000. And Ethereum is around $3,000 today.

Q:This is very interesting. These ratios are reminiscent of the gold-silver ratio, which many people have been pointing to after the recent extraordinary rise in silver. Apparently, your passion for Ethereum led you to become the chairman of Bitmine Immersion Technologies, an Ethereum treasury company. This caught my attention. I think it was last week? You announced a $200 million investment in Beast Industries. This is the company behind Mr. Beast, one of the biggest influencers on YouTube. Actually, I think I get it. You sent me the data earlier. He has an extraordinary influence on everyone in today's media. Tom Lee: Yes, I think most people on Wall Street don't realize Mr. Beast's influence for several reasons. First, it's a private company. So you have to look at media metrics to understand his influence. Second is his audience; he's an icon for Gen Z, Alpha, and Millennials. Q: What are the numbers? Remind us. Tom Lee: He has over 1 billion subscribers today. So on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Meta, the only person with more followers than him is Cristiano Ronaldo. His YouTube videos currently have more monthly view counts than Disney and Netflix. Each episode of his Mr. Beast YouTube videos gets over 250 million views per month, and he releases two episodes a month. That's higher than the Super Bowl's viewership. So the content he releases each month is equivalent to the viewership of two Super Bowls. And Beast Games, launched on Amazon Prime, is Amazon's number one show, similarly with a wider reach than almost any other movie. Question: I'm blown away by these numbers. You sent them to me before this show. That's an amazing reach. But why wasn't this an investment from Disney, Amazon Prime, Comcast, or Netflix? Why was it an investment from an Ethereum treasury company? Tom Lee: You know, they're very selective about who gets on the cap table. So Mr. Beast himself, Jimmy Donaldson, is the largest shareholder. Then there are people like Chamath from Social Capital. And Bitmine will be the largest corporate investor on its balance sheet. You can imagine they received a lot of offers to invest in Beast Industries. We were very fortunate to be invited to actually be part of their capital structure. Q: Looking back at your announcement at Bitmine's annual shareholder meeting last week, you hinted at something. It was a casual remark, but you mentioned when they start doing financial products or financial services. So that's coming soon, will you be involved or what? Tom Lee: Yes. CEO Jeff Hausenbold has mentioned this, that there will be Beast Financial Services in the future. I think Beast will probably provide full details about this in the coming weeks. But I think this is something they've already discussed, and Beast Industries is really smart. They've already productized Mr. Beast in many ways. For example, Feastables chocolate, they also have healthy lunches. They made drinks and beverages. They've collaborated with other creators. So it makes sense, if you have 1 billion followers, how do you further productize your business? Q: So you would argue, and I believe you would, that this is good for Ethereum because it has 1 billion followers? Tom Lee: Yes. Q: So is it reasonable to expect him to promote Ethereum in the future? Tom Lee: Well, I think some things are very reasonable to me. I think there's a huge vacuum in financial literacy for most Americans today, and actually most young people globally, because it's not really taught in schools. I agree with that. But we know financial literacy is crucial because even today, we know many Baby Boomers and Generation X don't have enough savings by retirement. We can't count on something like Social Security. So financial education is one of the biggest vacuums out there. So it's natural that Mr. Beast could become one of the leaders in financial education, which would be a huge social benefit. What I mean is, this is one of the reasons we're so interested in investing in Beast Industries—our corporate and social values ​​align. He really represents decency and goodwill. Then, regarding the future of finance, it's clear today that banks are all saying blockchain is the future of finance. I mean, JPMorgan Chase wants to build on blockchain. Jamie Dimon says it's a better way to build a bank. And Ethereum is where all banks are actually choosing to build smart contracts today. So it makes sense that if there's financial education for the public, it should include Ethereum to some extent.

Q:I think my last point on this is that for a treasury company—which I suppose is supposed to be a fairly focused business—this type of investment is clearly a tangent off from its core business. I know you've said before that, like Orbs, you do some "moonshot" type investments. By that phrasing, do you acknowledge that this is a high-risk investment, or do you actually not see it that way? Is this just a strange off-the-beaten-path investment? Tom Lee: Well, I would say it seems entirely risky to people who don't understand what we're talking about. But it makes sense. Bitmine has said since day 0 that about 5% of its balance sheet would be allocated to the "Moonshot" project. Based on today's balance sheet, that would be about $700 million in investment, and so far about $220 million has been invested in the "Moonshot." I think investing in Beast Industries will be very profitable because it gives you access to the world's largest content creators, perhaps the greatest of our generation. Your father was like Mr. Beast in his time, and there hasn't been anyone like him since. I don't know if there will ever be anyone like him after him. As a treasury company, our goal is not only to strengthen the Ethereum ecosystem, but also to truly ensure its future viability. By securing a potential organic partnership with Mr. Beast, I think that will strengthen Ethereum's future. So I think this is also a very good strategic move. Q: Tom, we're almost done, time's almost up. You know, we've asked everyone here what your most important investment advice to our audience is. We asked you in August, and I really liked your answer—basically, when you invest, invest in companies rather than indices; you'll have more conviction and be able to see through the volatility. Slightly adjusting this question, I have two. The first question is, what is your most important advice specifically for stock market investors this year? Tom Lee: Yes, I think the most important advice I can give is that trying to time the market is the biggest enemy of your future performance. Because many investors always just want to buy at the bottom and sell at the top. But when we look at the stock market, and actually the cryptocurrency market too, the only people who really make money are those who invest for the long term. Therefore, despite my warning that there could be a lot of volatility in 2026, people should view pullbacks as buying opportunities, not as opportunities to sell and avoid stocks. I think this is a very important distinction because too many people sell based on emotion and then don't make a second decision to buy back, thus missing out on all the compounding returns from their investments. Q: My second question is, for cryptocurrency investors, what is your most important advice from a very long-term perspective? I believe this is somewhat related to what you just said, but how should they allocate their exposure? Tom Lee: Yes. I believe many in the audience are skeptical of cryptocurrencies, perhaps even zero-position, and say they don't really understand it. One thing we have to realize is that cryptocurrencies are being adopted by the younger generation. I mean, it's part of their lives because they are digital natives, and the lines between future services and money are indeed becoming blurred. This is not unlike Bill Gates talking about the internet on David Letterman's show in 1995. David Letterman expressed huge skepticism about what the internet was because he was part of the wrong generation and couldn't embrace it. If Bill Gates explained it to a 20-year-old, that 20-year-old would instantly grasp the future of the internet. I think that's exactly what's happening with cryptocurrencies today.

Q:So what should people do—obviously, you recommend Bitmine, but should they hold a basket of currencies? Should they own a treasury company? Should it be 2:1 Bitcoin and Ethereum?

Tom Lee: I think I would take a two-pronged approach. First, there's something called the Lindy effect. I would only buy cryptocurrencies that have been around for a long time. So it's Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Tom Lee: I think I would take a two-pronged approach. First, there's something called the Lindy effect. I would only buy cryptocurrencies that have been around for a long time. So it's Bitcoin and Ethereum.

But the second thing I'd focus on is that cryptocurrency is a settlement layer. It may be invisible in the future. Bitmine not only operates as a settlement layer for the industry, but with our ongoing investments, we're really becoming a financial services company. So through Bitmine, you're not just buying exposure to Ethereum, you're buying into a company that's helping to drive the future of finance.

Q:Great answer. It's obvious Tom has a stake in that particular stock. Tom, it's great to see you again, especially in person in London. Thank you so much for joining us. It's fantastic. It was a pleasure to see you.