Hougan said that investors should focus on Hyperliquid-style crypto protocols and Robinhood-like companies, which he believes could outperform during the next bull market.
With the crypto market showing signs of bottoming, Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan said investors looking ahead to the next crypto bull market should pay particular attention to two types of investments that he believes are best positioned to benefit as blockchain technology becomes more deeply integrated with traditional finance.
In his latest market commentary, Hougan identified these as the “Hyperliquid Lane” and the “Robinhood Lane.”
The Hyperliquid Lane
The Bitwise exec said he believes the next crypto bull market will be driven by the convergence of onchain and traditional finance through trends such as stablecoins, tokenization, 24/7 trading, instant settlement, and institutional decentralized finance. While he said it is still too early to declare the market has fully recovered, he did add that improving sentiment, positive ETF flows, and Bitcoin’s recent performance have prompted investors to start asking what could lead the next cycle.
The first investment category – the Hyperliquid Lane – includes crypto financial applications generating meaningful revenues while directly linking token value to platform activity through strong tokenomics. Hougan said Hyperliquid stands out because the protocol has built a large derivatives platform that has expanded beyond crypto into traditional markets. He added that the platform surpassed $1 billion in lifetime revenue in June and is on pace to generate about $800 million this year.
The focus was also on its token model, under which 99% of protocol revenue is used to buy back HYPE tokens on the open market, reducing supply. Hougan said this combination of real revenues and aggressive token buybacks differentiates Hyperliquid from many earlier crypto applications that attracted users without delivering similar value to token holders.
He added that he expects more crypto projects to adopt similar tokenomics over time.
The Robinhood Lane
Hougan said the second investment category – the Robinhood Lane – consists of existing companies that are actively building financial services on blockchain infrastructure rather than limiting themselves to pilot programs. He cited Robinhood’s launch of its Layer 2 blockchain on July 1 as an example of this strategy.
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Robinhood Chain accumulated more than $300 million in deposits and processed 3.6 million daily transactions within two weeks of launch. He said companies experimenting with crypto at real scale are better positioned than firms conducting small proof-of-concept projects because they are gaining practical experience as financial markets evolve.
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