Tom Lee says AI stock losses, Anthropic IPO cash-raising and released hack funds may be weighing on crypto

Tom Lee has a theory for why crypto keeps sliding. He says the cause may sit outside crypto altogether.

Lee, chairman of BitMine Immersion Technologies (NYSE: BMNR), wrote Saturday, Nov. 14, that three liquidity events may be adding selling pressure to digital assets. He framed each as a possibility, not a measured finding.

Lee's three drains

The first is margin calls. Lee said losses in AI and semiconductor shares, especially Nvidia, triggered demands from brokers for more cash or collateral. Leveraged investors who get those calls sell what they can. Crypto trades around the clock and settles fast, so it is often the easiest thing to sell.

The second is Anthropic. Lee said investors may be selling assets to raise cash for possible participation in the AI company's IPO. TSMC's board has approved up to $500 million in Anthropic shares at the expected IPO price, as well as up to $500 million in OpenAI preferred stock, according to Reuters.

The third is the hack. Lee pointed to funds released to account holders after a $6.3 billion hack. Some holders, he said, were converting those assets to cash or stablecoins.

Lee added that comments during Anthropic's roadshow about AI disrupting industries, along with U.S. Department of Justice scrutiny of chip sales to Asia and China, have heightened risk concerns. He described the combined effect as a short-term "liquidity squeeze" falling mainly on retail investors, with the U.S., South Korea and Taiwan feeling it most.

What the price data shows

Ether has been weak for weeks. Recent CoinGecko data had ETH near $2,100, down about 6% over one week and 14% over two. It had lost nearly 16% over 30 days and was about 42% below its level a year earlier.

The AI side has been volatile too. Nvidia lost roughly $430 billion in market value over two sharp sessions before rebounding, Reuters reported. CoreWeave shares then jumped 24.7% after the company projected adjusted profitability in the first half of 2028. The Nasdaq rose 1.6% that day, the S&P 500 1.31% and the Dow 0.49%.

Those swings show AI-linked stocks have been under strain. They do not show that the money leaving crypto came from the same accounts. Lee offered no data on who was margin-called or who sold ETH or bitcoin to fund IPO orders.

Lee's own position

Lee is not a neutral observer. BitMine holds roughly 6.06 to 6.07 million ETH, about 4.9% to 4.97% of total supply, according to figures published alongside his remarks. The company began accumulating in mid-2025, funded mainly through equity issuance, with staking rewards adding to holdings.

That puts BitMine near its self-imposed cap of 5% of supply. With the ceiling close, the company is moving to resume share buybacks.

Lee calls the present setup a "coiled spring" and says crypto has held up better than AI stocks through the turbulence. He reiterated that crypto is entering a "super cycle" larger than any before it, with blockchain as a settlement layer and ETH as "the future of finance." A BitMine chairman talking up ETH is saying what his shareholders have bet on.

A question about the valuation case

Lee's Nov. 10 post on X leaned on Ethereum's tokenization progress, with the "vast majority" of it on Ethereum, and on Vitalik Buterin's recent declaration at Devcon 8 in Mumbai that "ETH is a store of value, ETH is money." Lee called that a "seismic shift."

Buterin has also questioned whether fee burning is a reliable basis for valuing ETH, arguing the model rests on assumptions that the network's historical activity did not consistently meet.

In the same Nov. 10 post, Lee pushed back on the idea that AI is "consuming all incremental capital" that might otherwise flow into crypto. His Saturday argument that AI losses and an AI IPO are draining crypto liquidity is about forced selling and cash-raising, not about new money choosing AI over crypto. Whether the market sees that distinction is untested.

On Nov. 7, Lee also said the post-midterm selloff in AI stocks was overdone and that the Federal Reserve's September rate hike looked like a mistake, so a December hike may not come.

What comes next

The Anthropic IPO is the nearest test of Lee's second driver. If retail allocations draw heavy demand and crypto weakness fades afterward, that would fit his thesis. If ETH keeps sliding regardless, the explanation will need to come from somewhere else.

BitMine's buyback resumption is the other marker. The company is approaching its 5% supply cap and has said it will start repurchasing shares again.