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Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer of Bitwise Asset Management, announced in a letter to investors today that the crypto industry has secured its place in the financial world, regardless of the outcome of today’s US presidential election between President Donald Trump and Senator Kamala Harris. In his book titled “Crypto Has Already Won,” Hougan said, “There’s nothing left to say about Tuesday’s election.”
He gave an honest assessment to investors: “Short term, a Trump victory is better than a Harris victory. Long-term currencies, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and stablecoins will thrive regardless of who wins. Altcoins are at greater risk of regulation in the Harris administration than in the Trump administration. ” Hougan warned that the only negative situation for crypto will be a sweep of the Democratic Alliance. “It will strengthen the part of the Democratic Party that is very hostile to crypto. But even in that case, I bought the dip,” he wrote.
Reflecting on the industry’s resilience over the past four years, Hougan emphasized, “If there’s one thing the past four years have taught me, it’s this: Washington can’t stop crypto. It can change the trajectory. It can speed things up or slow things down. It can bring more confusion or new clarity. But it won’t stop you.”
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According to Bitwise CIO, the presidential election serves as a milestone to assess the growth of the crypto sector since November 2020. Despite a controversial regulatory environment—including “Operation Choke Point 2.0,” numerous SEC lawsuits, and many contradictory or ambiguous statements— progress has been made it’s amazing. Hougan noted, “We focus so much in crypto on minute-to-minute price movements that we tend to forget the long-term trends. The presidential election provides a good opportunity to step back and see how far we have come.”
‘Crypto Has Already Won’
He presented compelling statistics comparing November 2020 and November 2024. The price of Bitcoin increased from $13,677 to $69,492, an increase of 408%. Ethereum went from $388 to $2,492, marking an increase of 552%. Solana experienced a meteoric rise from $1.49 to $165.12, an increase of 10,982%.
In terms of trading volume, CME Bitcoin Futures Open Interest in October increased from $0.57 billion to $10.58 billion, an increase of 1,756%. The seven-day moving average of daily crypto exchange volume increased from $9.68 billion to $39.32 billion, an increase of 306%. Fixed exchange volume in October increased from $12.6 billion to $156.5 billion, representing an increase of 11,142%.
Assets under management have also seen significant growth. Bitcoin spot ETF assets under management, absent in November 2020, reached $71.46 billion in November 2024. Stablecoin assets under management increased significantly from $3.87 billion to $177.83 billion, an increase of 4,495%. The total amount locked in the decentralized financial markets increased from $9.57 billion to $139.3 billion, a growth of 1,356%.
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Network activity has shown a significant increase as well. Monthly transactions on the Bitcoin network grew from 9.28 million to 20.48 million, an increase of 121%. Monthly transactions considered for Ethereum and Layer 2 solutions saw a significant increase from 33.3 million to 385.8 million, an increase of 1,059%.
General adoption indicators have also highlighted the integration of crypto into traditional finance and politics. The number of top 20 token asset managers increased from none in 2020 to three in 2024. The adoption of Bitcoin and Ethereum by BlackRock, which was absent in 2020, is one of the biggest news in 2024.
Because of all that, Hougan expressed great confidence in the continuation of these positive trends. “The question you should ask yourself as you look at the figures above is whether they will continue. From my seat, the answer is a resounding yes,” he affirmed.
He outlined several key expectations: the influx of spot crypto ETFs will continue; stablecoins will continue to grow rapidly; institutions will continue to ‘start from zero’ and add allocations to Bitcoin and crypto; Wall Street will continue to accept tokens and real-world assets; blockchains will continue to get faster and cheaper; and real-world applications like Polymarket will continue to come in and gain mainstream adoption.
While acknowledging the importance of the election, Hougan downplays the long-term impact on Bitcoin and the crypto’s trajectory. “Make no mistake: What happened in Tuesday’s election, especially in the short term. But as I see it, in the long run, Tuesday will be something between speed and windstorm. We will not stop this train either,” he concluded.
At press time, Bitcoin traded at $68,932.
Featured image from YouTube, chart from TradingView.com
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