Bitmine Chairman’s Message | Tom Lee's Presentation at Consensus Hong Kong 2026

Episode Overview

• This keynote address by Tom Lee of Fundstrat Capital at Consensus Hong Kong 2025 offers a contrarian and optimistic outlook for the cryptocurrency market, specifically countering the prevailing bearish sentiment.
• The presentation is structured around three main arguments: why Bitcoin is poised to regain its status as a store of value against gold, why Ethereum has multiple strong adoption drivers despite recent price struggles, and the emergence of "Dominant DATs" (Digital Asset Trusts) like BitMine as superior investment vehicles.
• Investors feeling discouraged by recent market performance will find a data-driven case for why the "best days for crypto are ahead," supported by historical comparisons to gold, analysis of market cycles, and the potential of new financial products.

Key Concepts

• The Gold vs. Bitcoin Cycle: While gold significantly outperformed Bitcoin in 2025 (rising 73% vs. Bitcoin's 29% drop), this trend is framed as a temporary deviation rather than a permanent shift. The speaker argues that gold has likely peaked due to its massive market size (larger than the S&P 500), making it cumbersome, while Bitcoin remains a historically superior store of value against inflation over the long term. The narrative suggests 2026 will be the year Bitcoin resumes its dominance as gold begins to underperform.
• Ethereum's V-Shaped Recovery Pattern: Despite suffering a 64% drawdown in early 2025, Ethereum's historical price action shows a consistent pattern of V-shaped recoveries following deep drawdowns. This resilience is bolstered by fundamental drivers, including Wall Street's adoption of public chains for financial plumbing, the integration of crypto with AI agents, and the burgeoning creator economy, positioning Ethereum as a central layer for future economic activity.
• The Rise of Dominant DATs (Digital Asset Trusts): A new class of investment vehicles, termed "Dominant DATs," is emerging as a preferred way to gain crypto exposure. Entities like BitMine are described not just as holding companies, but as productive assets that generate yield through staking, employ alpha strategies, and avoid debt. These structures allow investors to potentially outperform the underlying asset (like ETH) by accreting more value per share through treasury management and strategic investments in "moonshot" projects.

Quotes

• At 3:51 - "48% of the time in the last 50 years, Gold has not stored value. It's done worse than inflation." - This quote challenges the traditional narrative of gold as the ultimate safe haven, using historical data to argue that Bitcoin, despite its volatility, has statistically been a more effective hedge against inflation since its inception.
• At 8:37 - "From June 30th to December 31, Ethereum was up 22%, but look at BitMine, it rose 500%... meaning it outperformed Ethereum by 48,000 basis points." - Lee uses this dramatic statistic to illustrate the leverage and efficiency of a "Dominant DAT" structure, explaining how active treasury management and lack of debt can create outsized returns compared to simply holding the raw asset.
• At 11:31 - "Beast has a chance to be the financial institution of their generation... Mr. Beast is the leading creator for Gen Z and Gen Alpha. That's 120 million people. It's bigger than Millennials." - This quote explains the strategic logic behind investing in the creator economy, framing social influence as the new foundation for banking and financial services for upcoming generations.

Takeaways

• Evaluate investment vehicles that offer "accretive" exposure rather than just passive holding; look for companies or trusts that use staking yields and treasury management to increase the amount of underlying crypto per share over time.
• when assessing Ethereum's potential, look beyond current price action to the "three pillars" of future demand: Wall Street's financial replumbing, the infrastructure needs of autonomous AI agents, and monetization tools for the creator economy.
• Monitor the "ETH/BTC ratio" as a primary valuation metric for Ethereum; a return to historical averages (around 0.04-0.05) suggests significant upside potential for ETH, regardless of Bitcoin's price movement.