Bitwise duo: "no sellers left" in crypto, floodgates open after Anthropic IPO

Hougan and Rasmussen say short-term fear is masking a long-term setup

Matt Hougan, Bitwise's CIO, argued that bearish catalysts like a potential AI bubble shock, Fed moves, or election uncertainty are short-term and visible, while the bullish case for crypto is slow-moving and structural: "It's about 300,000 financial advisers deciding finally to make a 2% allocation to crypto. It's about regulation. Like the Genius Act hasn't even really gone into effect." He said this asymmetry conditions people to feel pessimistic despite what he called "a long-term extraordinarily great setup."

Ryan Rasmussen, Bitwise's Head of Research, added that negative headlines simply draw more attention and views, but said he remains optimistic on a 3-6 month view and believes people staying pessimistic "are going to find themselves sidelined and perhaps surprised for what we see next year."

Capital rotation out of AI and into crypto after the Anthropic IPO

Rasmussen suggested capital could rotate out of crypto in November as the Anthropic IPO and other tech share issuances absorb risk capital, but expects rotation back into crypto once that passes, saying crypto "looks remarkably undervalued relative to all these other categories." Hougan agreed, arguing Bitcoin's move from 57 to the mid-80s already reflected some of this dynamic as AI-driven capital concerns eased over the summer.

"All the money that was going to leave crypto already left, right? All the money rotated out from October to June. I think there are no more sellers left." — Matt Hougan

Hougan said that if even a modest share of AI-era capital flows into "the next big thing, which is tokenization and stable coins," the price impact "could be pretty significant."

Three paths allocators will take, and store-of-value assets beyond Bitcoin

Rasmussen outlined three allocator paths: Bitcoin first, then revenue-producing fundamental assets like Near and Hyperliquid, then ETF-accessible assets for ease of access in brokerage accounts. He also noted the store-of-value market has grown dramatically, comparing it to gold's rise "from a $2 trillion asset 20 years ago" to "now a $30 trillion asset," with Bitcoin's share of that market rising from "less than 1% 10 years ago" to "5% or more today."

Both guests said the store-of-value category could expand to include assets like Zcash, which Hougan argued benefits as Bitcoin gets "dragged into the regulatory light," leaving "space on the corner" for more privacy-native assets.

Stablecoins, tokenization and perps arrive with the regulation finally in place

The host flagged stablecoins, perps and tokenization as his "big three" categories. Hougan argued the addressable market for these protocols is expanding roughly 100x by widening from crypto-only to all global assets, and another 100x by widening from crypto-native investors to all investors, saying "it's a massive expansion of the addressable market" that justifies rising valuations. Rasmussen added that regulation, institutional adoption and access (via equities, DeFi platforms, or ETFs) "are all in place" for the first time.

Fewer bad builders can ride the beta, and VCs lose their edge

Hougan argued the market has shifted so poor projects can no longer coast on momentum: "It's harder to be a bad builder and it's probably just as good to be a good builder... The beta will not carry you to the shore." He said this should mean fewer 90% drawdowns in projects with real revenue, since fundamental buyers now step in on pullbacks rather than selling into fading momentum.

The host and guests also discussed crypto VCs losing their historic advantage as more retail-accessible liquid markets let ordinary investors buy into winners like Hyperliquid or Zcash early, rather than VCs capturing most of the upside. Rasmussen said the scale of opportunity is larger than five years ago despite more competition, pointing to Hyperliquid's rise as proof new entrants can still win big.