Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee on Monday pushed back against growing concerns over market weakness, arguing that cryptocurrencies remain in healthy long-term uptrends despite recent volatility.
Why Crypto Is Underperforming Speaking on CNBC's Power Lunch, Lee acknowledged that cryptocurrency investors have been disappointed this year as digital assets largely failed to participate in the enthusiasm surrounding AI-related stocks.
Over the past year, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) slumped more than 40%.
Despite the underperformance, Lee said "Crypto is a downstream story of AI." He explained that increasingly powerful AI systems will require blockchain-based verification and validation tools to help authenticate transactions and combat fraud.
He also pointed to a rise in AI-related security exploits across financial services, arguing that blockchain technology could become increasingly important as attack surfaces expand.
