Ethereum Beats Every Asset Class Since War, Tom Lee Says

BitMine Chairman Tom Lee told Paris Blockchain Week 2026 on May 5 that Ethereum has been the world's best-performing asset since the Middle East crisis began — outpacing energy stocks and beating the S&P 500 by roughly 20 percentage points.

Why it matters

Lee anchored the call in two structural drivers he expects to define the next leg: real-world asset tokenization and agentic AI payments. He cited stablecoins, tokenized stocks and tokenized reputation systems as live use cases already pulling demand onchain, and argued AI-driven payment flows will compound that base. The framing positions ETH not just as a beta trade but as the settlement layer for both narratives.

Market impact

Lee also extended his cycle thesis: if markets absorb the Middle East shock and the US economy holds up under higher oil prices, the current crypto bull market could run into 2028. He called the present phase a deep consolidation, the kind historically associated with re-accumulation before the next impulsive move higher.