Fundstrat and Bitmine’s co-founder Tom Lee said he expects Bitcoin’s price to surge to $250,000 this year and reach a new all-time high, arguing that long-term adoption of crypto remains stronger than gold even as most investors hold little or no exposure to bullion.
Speaking on the Master Investor podcast hosted by Wilfred Frost, Lee also warned of potential market turbulence in 2026 but urged investors to avoid trying to time pullbacks, saying long-term investing remains the most reliable path to returns.
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Bitcoin To Hit New ATH Price?
Lee said Bitcoin’s price outlook hinges on whether the market can move beyond a major crypto deleveraging event that broke its earlier correlation with gold.
“We think Bitcoin will make a new high this year,” Lee said.
“If Bitcoin makes a new all-time high, we know that that deleveraging event is behind us.”
He described Bitcoin as “digital gold” but said the group of investors who accept that thesis is still smaller than gold’s investor base.
“More people own gold than own crypto,” Lee said.
“But the path to getting that adoption rate higher is going to be very jagged.”
Lee added that crypto markets remain vulnerable to leverage-driven disruptions.
“Crypto has periodic deleveraging events,” he said. “It really impairs the market makers, and the market makers are essentially the central bank of crypto.”
Bitcoin Price High, Plus Gold
Lee said gold’s strong performance has been driven by geopolitical uncertainty and expectations of easier global monetary policy, but argued most investors remain under-allocated.
“I think it means gold should be sitting in a portfolio,” Lee said. “I’ve seen folks like Ray Dalio recommend up to 10%.”
“Most people are at zero for gold,” he added. “So that means gold is still under-owned today.”
Lee said gold should be viewed less as a commodity and more as an alternative currency.
“Gold doesn’t make sense if you’re trying to view it as a commodity metal,” he said. “It acts as an alternative to the dollar.”
Timing Markets
Lee warned investors against reacting emotionally to market pullbacks, saying attempts to buy at the bottom and sell at the top often hurt long-term returns.
“Trying to time the market makes you an enemy of your future performance,” Lee said.
“The only people who really make money are those who are investing for the long term.”
He said that even if markets experience sharp declines, investors should see them as opportunities.
“So as much as I’m warning about 2026 and the possibility of a lot of turbulence, they should view the pullback as a chance to buy, not the pullback as a chance to sell and to avoid stocks.”
U.S. Tailwinds Positive
Tom Lee said the U.S. continues to benefit from long-term structural advantages, particularly in demographics and technology.
On demographics, Lee pointed to a key contrast between the U.S. and other developed economies:
“The U.S. does have a favorable demographic tailwind. That is in contrast to other countries where the prime-age workforce has gone into deficit in terms of inherited wealth.”
He said large intergenerational wealth transfers will reshape the economic landscape, while also widening inequality:
“Gen Z, millennials and Gen Alpha, they are set to all inherit substantial sums of money over their lifetime.”
“It does create disparity in wealth. There are going to be some very wealthy Gen Z, Gen Alpha and millennials, while others are going to be, of course, living their life and accumulating their own personal wealth.”
Meanwhile, Lee also argued that technological progress is accelerating and likely to reinforce U.S. leadership:
“Evidence that we could be moving towards super intelligence is accelerating. I think there’s a lot more progress being made on robots and integration with robots.”
“Those are all things that are going to favor the U.S.”
He also added that blockchain adoption is expanding beyond early fintech and crypto-native players:
“It’s not just BlackRock and Robinhood anymore.”
“Jamie Dimon has publicly stated that he thinks blockchain does fix a lot of problems for financial services.”
“I think the banking industry is starting to embrace the efficiency of blockchain.”
