TLDR
- Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan sees a 10-20x growth for crypto over the next decade.
- SEC Chair Paul Atkins forecasts $68 trillion of U.S. equity markets moving onchain.
- Hougan believes stablecoins, tokenization, and Bitcoin will drive crypto market expansion.
- Despite growth, Hougan warns against betting on individual blockchain networks.
Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan is predicting a 10-20x growth in the cryptocurrency market over the next decade, driven by the rise of tokenization, Bitcoin, and stablecoins. His optimistic outlook is bolstered by SEC Chair Paul Atkins’ vision of a $68 trillion U.S. equity market moving onchain in the near future. However, Hougan cautions that the dominance of individual blockchain networks remains uncertain, urging broad market exposure for investors.
Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan Predicts 10-20x Crypto Growth in the Next Decade
Bitwise Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Matt Hougan has expressed strong confidence in the long-term growth of the cryptocurrency market. He believes that the market could expand by 10 to 20 times in the next decade. This projection is supported by recent comments from SEC Chair Paul Atkins, who foresees the entire U.S. equity market shifting onchain in the near future.
The total value of U.S. equities is approximately $68 trillion. Currently, tokenized stocks are valued at just around $670 million, which Hougan believes illustrates how early the transition to onchain technology remains. As tokenization, Bitcoin, and stablecoins grow in importance, Hougan sees massive potential for crypto over the next ten years.
SEC Chair’s Vision of $68 Trillion Onchain Market
Hougan’s bullish outlook is partly fueled by SEC Chair Paul Atkins’ recent remarks on the future of tokenization. Atkins suggested that within a few years, all U.S. equity markets, valued at $68 trillion, could be moved to blockchain technology. This would mark a significant transformation for the financial sector, as onchain systems provide transparency, security, and efficiency.
“Stablecoins will matter more. Tokenization will matter more. Bitcoin will matter more,” Hougan said. He also pointed to other emerging use cases for crypto, such as decentralized finance, privacy tech, and digital identity solutions, which he believes will contribute to the market’s growth over the next decade.
Crypto’s Broad Use Cases Fueling Growth Prospects
As Hougan envisions a future where crypto assets gain more mainstream adoption, he notes that the use cases for crypto will expand beyond just Bitcoin and stablecoins. Technologies like decentralized finance (DeFi), prediction markets, and digital identities will increasingly play a role in the crypto ecosystem, providing new opportunities for market participants.
According to Hougan, as the ecosystem matures, new blockchain-based applications will emerge that will drive further growth. “A dozen other major use cases will follow,” he wrote, indicating that the future of crypto could be far broader than most anticipate. These innovations could reshape industries from finance to identity management, creating new pathways for crypto to flourish.
Hougan Cautions Against Overestimating Individual Blockchain Winners
While Hougan is confident in the overall growth of the crypto sector, he admits that predicting which specific blockchain networks will dominate remains highly uncertain. He warned against placing large bets on individual blockchain projects at this stage of the market’s development.
Outcomes, he argued, will depend on factors such as regulation, execution, and macroeconomic conditions, making it difficult to predict the future dominance of any one platform.
This uncertainty informs Hougan’s investment strategy, which focuses on broader market exposure rather than high-conviction bets on individual networks. He believes that using a market-cap-weighted crypto index fund is a safer way to capture the sector’s growth potential. By spreading exposure across a range of cryptocurrencies, investors can reduce the risk of backing the wrong blockchain, even in a rapidly growing market.





