Bitwise investment director Matt Hougan has said that the crypto market’s exit from the current bear trend will provide stablecoins, asset tokenization and perpetual futures. He said that after speaking with dozens of financial advisors, he noticed a shift in the interests of professional investors: they are increasingly viewing cryptocurrencies as a means of payment and infrastructure for stablecoins, rather than just as a means of saving.

Hougan drew historical parallels: if the market revived Ethereum’s launch in 2014, DeFi’s boom in 2018, and spot Bitcoin ETFs after FTX’s collapse in 2022, financial advisors will become major buyers in the next cycle. Capital, he predicts, will flow into stealth and tokenization ecosystems, which could bring growth to assets like Ethereum, Solana, Chainlink, Avalanche, as well as Hyperliquid tokens and stocks of companies like Circle and Coinbase.

Despite the shift in focus, Hougan maintained his faith in Bitcoin, calling current prices around $60,000 "incredibly attractive" to long-term investors and emphasizing that it was BTC that historically took the market out of its bear phases. He also noted that, given the excitement surrounding AI and robotics, investing in crypto now looks like a "bet against the trend".