MrBeast's financial bet could be the young generation's Schwab, Robinhood, Tom Lee says. The BitMine chairman said at Hong Kong Consensus 2026 that MrBeast acquiring neobank Step could win over a new generation of investors to crypto. Thomas Lee, chairman of ether treasury company BitMine Immersion (BMRN), said the next generation's great financial institution may not come from Wall Street but from YouTube. Speaking on stage at Consensus Hong Kong on Wednesday, Lee argued that MrBeast’s move into banking could position the video creator as the primary financial platform for Gen Z and Gen Alpha and a major onramp to crypto. MrBeast’s company, in which BitMine invested $200 million, earlier this month agreed to buy neobank Step as a long-term play on how younger generations will access financial services. 'Beast has a chance to be the financial institution of their generation,' Lee said. He compared the opportunity to how Charles Schwab served baby boomers, BlackRock and Blackstone attracted the capital of Generation X and Robinhood captured Millennials. Gen Z and Gen Alpha, he noted, represent about 120 million people in the U.S. alone, and MrBeast has built an audience of more than a billion followers globally. 'These customers aren’t necessarily wealthy today,' Lee said, but over the next decade they will take part in a major wealth transfer. If Step becomes their primary financial platform, he argued, it could position BitMine and investment in MrBeast's company at the center of a generation that views digital assets as native to its financial life. Hong Kong could take lessons from the UAE and Korea regarding crypto regulation, said a member of the China National Committee, speaking at Consensus Hong Kong. The undersecretary from Hong Kong's Treasury said an enduring attraction of Hong Kong is that there are ‘no surprises’ from regulators.
