Advisors with $175T Shift Focus to Stablecoins and Tokenization
Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan says conversations with 40+ financial advisors—who collectively manage $175T—show crypto interest is holding up, but the focus is moving beyond Bitcoin. In past cycles, recoveries were helped by new technology and investor groups: Ethereum and early retail after the 2014 bear market, DeFi and stimulus-driven investors after 2018, and spot Bitcoin ETFs plus hedge-fund involvement after the 2022 FTX collapse.
Hougan argues the next recovery could depend on expanding blockchain use cases and deeper institutional access. He highlights stablecoins, tokenization, perpetual futures, and other real-world blockchain applications as key areas gaining traction. He notes that institutional barriers to crypto access remain, which is why continued advisor attention matters for long-term growth.
Importantly, stablecoins and tokenization are now central topics across the financial industry. Hougan cites public discussions from SEC Chair Paul Atkins, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, and BlackRock CEO Larry Fink. He says potential capital flows in the next cycle may favor blockchain networks and crypto firms linked to tokenization and stablecoin infrastructure, rather than concentrating solely on BTC.
Companies and assets mentioned include Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), Chainlink (LINK), Avalanche (AVAX), Canton (CANTO), and trading-focused Hyperliquid (HYPE), plus tokenization/stablecoin-related businesses Figure (FIGURE), Circle (USDC), and Coinbase (COIN).
Bullish
The news is broadly bullish because it signals sustained institutional interest in crypto—particularly a shift toward stablecoins and tokenization infrastructure. Hougan’s claim that advisors managing $175T remain engaged suggests that demand may broaden from a Bitcoin-led narrative to a wider set of blockchain-linked trades.
Historically, crypto rebounds have often followed “new rails” and “new buyer access”: the 2014 cycle’s ETH/retail mix, the 2018 cycle’s DeFi + policy-driven retail, and the post-FTX era’s ETF/hedge-fund participation. This pattern supports the idea that the next leg could be powered by improved institutional plumbing around stablecoins and tokenized assets.
Short-term, traders may see this as a potential rotation catalyst: attention could move toward tokenization beneficiaries (stablecoin issuers/infrastructure and L1/L2 ecosystems) instead of only BTC. That can add relative strength to tokens tied to stablecoin rails (e.g., ETH and listed infrastructure) but may also keep BTC dominance from accelerating.
Long-term, if regulators and major banks continue aligning around stablecoin/tokenization frameworks, it can reduce access friction and improve visibility for institutional allocations. The main risk to “bullish” positioning is execution uncertainty—institutional barriers and regulatory outcomes could still delay flows—but the directional intent in the article points to incremental upside for crypto market stability rather than a fresh sell-off.