Tom Lee Says Ethereum Will Power AI Payments Despite Growing Skepticism

Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee believes the next major winner in the artificial intelligence boom will not be chipmakers but Ethereum, arguing that blockchain networks will become the payment infrastructure for AI agents.

Speaking during a Fundstrat panel, Lee compared today's AI market to the mobile phone revolution of the 1990s. While companies such as Motorola initially led that cycle, the biggest long-term gains came from infrastructure providers and Apple. He expects AI to follow a similar path, with financial services emerging as the next growth engine.

Lee argued that AI agents do not require traditional banking services such as trust, proof of funds, lending, or tax collection. Instead, he believes blockchain-based payment rails will handle machine-to-machine transactions more efficiently.

"It’s a mistake to think that this is going to be built on traditional financial rails," Lee said, adding that programmable assets such as cryptocurrencies, tokenized equities, and gold could eventually function as payment methods.

Part of that vision is reflected in ERC-8183, a draft Ethereum proposal introduced in February. The proposed standard would allow AI agent payments to remain in escrow until an assigned evaluator confirms task completion. The proposal was co-authored by Ethereum Foundation researcher Davide Crapis and engineers from Virtuals Protocol, although it remains under review.

Lee's bullish Ethereum outlook aligns in part with veteran macro investor Jordi Visser, head of AI research at 22V Research. While Visser believes AI investment returns have moderated significantly, he also expects value to shift toward blockchain networks such as Ethereum.

However, Lee's stance comes with financial exposure. He serves as chairman of BitMine Immersion Technologies, the largest corporate holder of Ethereum. The company disclosed holdings of 5.79 million ETH—about 4.8% of the circulating supply—with crypto and cash assets totaling approximately $11.8 billion. Lee has acknowledged that BitMine's stock performance is closely tied to Ethereum's price.

Meanwhile, Virtuals Protocol CEO Jansen Teng noted that real AI agent adoption remains limited. The platform has processed roughly $15 billion in agent token trading but only about $500 million in actual agent-to-agent transactions over the past year. Teng also admitted the platform has yet to achieve product-market fit, suggesting that widespread AI payment adoption may still take time despite growing optimism around Ethereum's long-term role.