Perhaps one of the crypto’s largest capital deals was made this week when BitMine Chairman Tom Lee announced, “If you want to get exposure to OpenAI before public markets, you should buy Orbs because they have direct investment in both companies.”
However, while the moment is big for a crypto company to invest in the leading tech giant, it isn’t actually a direct investment into AI or from BitMine or Tom Lee. Here’s How
🚨 Tom Lee just dropped a bombshell.
Through $ORBS, he’s bridging the gap between Sam Altman’s OpenAI and @MrBeast.
The goal?
A bot-free social network powered by Worldcoin’s “Proof of Human” and secured by $ETH. This is the ultimate bull case for the human-centric internet.… pic.twitter.com/MKL1RATl5u
— SamAlτcoin.eth 🌞 (@SAMALTCOIN_ETH) March 19, 2026
What exactly is BitMine-OpenAI-Eightco Deal
This deal is essentially a layered way to invest in OpenAI without directly owning it. Bitmine Immersion Technologies, backed by Tom Lee, invested about $75 million into Eightco Holdings as part of a larger funding round.
Eightco then this week used that capital to increase its own OpenAI exposure by another $40 million, taking its total stake to around $90 million. This now forms a significant portion of its treasury. So Bitmine isn’t directly investing in OpenAI. Instead, it is funding a company that holds an indirect stake in it.
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In simple terms, it’s a proxy bet: Bitmine → Eightco → OpenAI, giving investors indirect access to one of the most sought-after private AI companies. But this is ofcourse with added layers of risk since they are ultimately holding Eightco, not OpenAI itself.
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Tom Lee ‘s importance comes as with the investmet, he has joined ORBS’ board alongwith Brett Winton of ARK Invest who will serve as an advisor to Eightco. This is going to add a strong future-tech lens to the worldcoin’s strategy. Notably, Eightco also holds a significant position in World assets, controlling roughly 10% of the WLD supply with 2.7 WLD tokens.
This isn’t a direct investment. It’s a structure: Bitmine → Eightco → OpenAI but the investmnet has a fourth angle as well – Sam Altman’s Worldcoin.
Largely a Crypto Investment in WorldCoin
What does a crypto company gain by investing in an AI giant like OpenAI? Well the deal goes beyond just equity exposure. The deal is largely centered around Tools for Humanity, co-created by Sam Altman and his Worldcoin initiative.
Tom Lee noted that the deal follows Eightco Holdings’s earlier investment into MrBeast’s ventures.
He also pointed to potential collaboration opportunities between the two, as OpenAI explores a bot-free social network, aligning with Altman’s identity-focused efforts via Tools for Humanity and the broader World Network.
Thus, this is not just an AI bet, but a broader positioning across Altman-linked ecosystems, spanning both OpenAI and the Worldcoin network.