Bitwise investment officer says multiyear crypto bull market starts now

The investor said the crypto market is poised to continue its recent rally, with Bitcoin potentially reaching new all-time highs in the coming year.

Speaking in an interview on CNBC on Dec. 6th, Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan argued that the latest spike in Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto assets is driven by a combination of factors. These include growing institutional interest in crypto, speculation around a spot Bitcoin ETF approval, and investors positioning into inflation and risk-on assets amid falling bond yields.

Every bull market has multiple drivers. You mentioned earlier the likelihood of a spot Bitcoin ETF. I think that’s a huge driver of what we’re seeing in crypto.

But what you mentioned with gold and with interest rates coming down on the 10 year in the US expectation for future interest rate cuts, I think people are moving into sort of inflation sensitive and risk on assets and assets that provide sort of a protection against economic risk.

Matt Hougan

Hougan believes this rally has momentum to continue over the long term, asserting that it marks the beginning of mainstream institutional adoption of crypto assets. In his view, the market is transitioning from being retail-dominated to having rising participation from institutional investors.

What this crypto bull market is about is about professional investors and institutional investors entering the market for the first time, really for the last 13 years of Bitcoin’s existence. […] The advent of an ETF firms like BlackRock coming into the market, that’s going to be the big money into the crypto market for the first time ever.

Matt Hougan

While expecting near-future volatility after this year’s sizeable run-up, Hougan predicts new all-time highs for Bitcoin within 6-12 months. He also stated that the crypto bear market, or “crypto winter”, is over.

We’re no longer talking about FTX. We’re talking about Fidelity. We’re no longer talking about BlockFi. We’re talking about BlackRock. We’re in the crypto spring. This is the dawn of a major and I believe multi-year bull market in crypto. I think it’s the mainstream era of crypto. So, yes, crypto winter is behind us and we see the green shoots and there are still warm days ahead.

Matt Hougan