Matt Hougan sees the $12 billion already allocated through ETFs as “just a down payment.”
Institutions are preparing to flood crypto markets with capital, according to Matt Hougan, CIO of Bitwise, one of the companies offering a Bitcoin spot ETF.
“The January launch of spot bitcoin ETFs opened the cryptocurrency market to investment professionals in a major way for the first time,” Hougan wrote, noting that these investors control tens of trillions of dollars.
For Hougan, who explained that a 1% allocation could translate into $1 trillion entering the cryptocurrency market, funds prepared to enter the market will take years, not months, and asked investors to "think about the implications".
Bitcoin is trading today for $69,706, starting the month with a 1.2% drop. The asset has seen significant volatility after reaching its recent all-time high, falling to a low of $61,494 on March 20, but recovering to its highest monthly close on March 31.
Bitcoin spot ETFs have been on an accumulation spree since their launch on January 11. Collectively, the nine funds now hold over 831,000 BTC, a whopping 4.23% of the network's total supply, according to a dune panel. Bitwise controls 30,734 BTC on behalf of its clients, worth over $2.1 billion. But bulls like Hougan think this is just the tip of the iceberg. And $1 trillion entering an asset with a market cap of $1.3 trillion certainly has bullish implications. "We're all excited about the $12 billion that has flowed into ETFs since January, but let's imagine that global wealth managers allocate just 1% of their portfolios to Bitcoin." wrote Hougan, calling the move “not crazy.” Hougan, who spoke on January 14 with The Defiant to discuss the Bitcoin ETF spot market, with reference to Bitcoin reduce by halfexpected in mid-April, as a major catalyst for large investors to start buying, along with the news that banking giants Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo should begin offering their own Bitcoin ETFs in the coming weeks. "1% down, 99% ahead," he wrote, advising investors to stay calm and take a long-term view.