Despite the current market downturn, Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise, said recent conversations with more than 40 financial advisors showed that interest in crypto remains strong.
But their focus has shifted beyond Bitcoin.
In a recent blog post, Hougan said he spoke with advisory teams, who collectively manage more than $175 trillion, and the discussions reflected a broader change in how traditional finance views digital assets and could shape the next phase of crypto market growth.
Beyond Bitcoin
According to the Bitwise CIO, previous crypto recoveries were driven by a combination of new technologies and new investor groups entering the market. He pointed to Ethereum and early retail participation following the 2014 bear market, decentralized finance and stimulus-driven investors after the 2018 downturn, and the rise of spot Bitcoin ETFs and hedge fund participation after the collapse of FTX in 2022.
Hougan said the next recovery may similarly depend on both expanding blockchain use cases and greater participation from financial advisors and institutional investors. He identified stablecoins, tokenization, perpetual futures, and other real-world blockchain applications as some of the most important areas gaining traction. Hougan explained that many institutional investors and advisory firms still face barriers to accessing crypto markets, which makes continued interest from those groups significant for the sector’s long-term outlook.
While Bitcoin has historically led crypto market recoveries because of its size and maturity, this might not be the case anymore. He said stablecoins and tokenization have become central topics across the financial industry as major firms and regulators increasingly discuss their potential. Comments from SEC Chair Paul Atkins, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, and BlackRock CEO Larry Fink have all publicly discussed stablecoins and tokenization in recent months.
According to Hougan, that growing institutional attention is influencing how advisors evaluate crypto-related investment opportunities. He said potential capital flows in the next market cycle may move toward blockchain networks and crypto firms connected to tokenization and stablecoin infrastructure instead of focusing solely on Bitcoin.
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Projects Drawing Advisor Interest
Assets including Ethereum, Solana, Chainlink, Avalanche, and Canton, alongside trading-focused projects such as Hyperliquid, have also gained attention. The exec even pointed to crypto-related companies including Figure, Circle, and Coinbase as examples of businesses tied to the expanding tokenization and stablecoin sector.
Hougan said the conversations demonstrated that financial advisors now have a broader and more detailed understanding of the crypto industry than they did several years ago.
“It might also be the thing that leads us into the next bull market.”
