Tom Lee: "Crypto Spring" Has Begun, Compromise Proposal for the CLARITY Act is Largely Acceptable

On May 4, Bitmine Chairman Thomas "Tom" Lee made the following statement: The U.S. Senate has released the compromise text of the CLARITY Act. While the bill prohibits certain yield-bearing stablecoin reserves, it allows for activity-based "rewards," striking a balance between innovation and safeguarding existing depository institutions (i.e., traditional banks). This compromise is broadly acceptable to us, and we hope the bill will pass in 2026. Current predictions from prediction market Polymarket show the probability of the bill passing in 2026 has topped 60%—its highest level in a month. A "Crypto Spring" has begun. Similar to past cycles, investor sentiment remains subdued and somewhat pessimistic even as crypto prices rise. We believe the potential passage or rejection of the CLARITY Act will confirm the arrival of the Crypto Spring. Regarding the drivers behind the future growth of crypto assets, Ethereum (ETH) continues to benefit from a dual tailwind: Wall Street’s blockchain tokenization efforts and growing demand from proxy AI systems for transparent, neutral blockchains. Ethereum remains the most widely used and trusted smart contract blockchain in the tokenization space, positioning it well for the emerging proxy business. We increasingly view ETH as both a store of value and a medium of exchange. Since the Iran conflict began, ETH has demonstrated this dual role. Since the conflict started, ETH has outperformed the S&P 500 by 1,380 basis points and remains one of the world’s best-performing assets—second only to oil. Bitmine has accelerated its ETH accumulation pace over the past four weeks, purchasing additional ETH each week—driven by our fundamental conviction that ETH is in the final stages of a "mini crypto winter." Over the past week, we increased our holdings by a further 101,745 ETH, continuing to execute our aggressive accumulation strategy.