Name: Bitwise: Tokenization Could Be the Biggest Crypto Trade of the Decade
Uploaded: 2026-09-10T18:45:30+00:00
Duration: 2688 s

Speakers

Ish Asad — Research Analyst, Bitwise

Ryan Rasmussen — Head of Research, Bitwise

Summary

Bitwise Head of Research Ryan Rasmussen and Research Analyst Ish Asad discuss why they believe crypto has bottomed and a new bull setup is building. Key themes include tokenization, automated token portfolios, DeFi fee growth, and prediction market volume. They expect Bitcoin to exceed $100K by year-end and see Solana, Hyperliquid, Ethereum, and DeFi protocols as beneficiaries.

Guests see crypto recovery as prices catch up to strong onchain fundamentals.
Solana and Hyperliquid ETFs held positive inflows while BTC/ETH ETFs saw outflows.
Tokenization winners span issuers, DeFi platforms, and Ethereum/Solana base layers.
Automated token portfolios are framed as a multi-trillion-dollar onchain ETF-like opportunity.
DeFi is expected to enter a decade of growth with token buybacks and rising fees.
Prediction market volume is expected to spike in Q4, with Hyperliquid potentially surprising.
Bitcoin is expected above $100K by year-end on Q4 seasonality and ETF flows.
Clarity Act failure is seen as priced in, with SEC regulatory clarity still supportive.

Ideas

Ish Asad Research Analyst, Bitwise 9:00

Crypto recovery confirmed; fundamentals lag, bull coming

Ryan expects Bitcoin to end the year above $100K, which he calls conservative. He cites historically strong Q4 seasonality, reaccelerating ETF flows, churning through Q2 worries like Strategy and quantum, debasement concerns pushing investors toward hard assets like Bitcoin and gold, and the potential momentum once Bitcoin reclaims year-to-date losses. Ish agrees and adds that AI-stock rotation is due.

Ish Asad Research Analyst, Bitwise 13:10

Solana, Hyperliquid ETF inflows show relative strength

Ryan expects Q4 to produce a volume and open-interest explosion in prediction markets driven by NFL, NBA, MLB, college football, Fed decisions, midterms and year-end crypto price markets. Unlike 2024, attention is split across Polymarket, Kalshi, Coinbase, Robinhood and Hyperliquid's HIP-4 outcome markets, and Ryan specifically expects Hyperliquid's prediction market to surprise to the upside.

Ish Asad Research Analyst, Bitwise 16:24

Robinhood chain success drives real fee revenue

Robinhood Chain has been one of the most successful layer-2 launches in history. Beyond the memecoin noise, Ish sees real businesses forming on Robinhood Chain, generating real fee revenue from users, including tokenized stock inflows and protocols that reinvest memecoin fees into tokenized stocks and pay dividends.

Ryan Rasmussen Head of Research, Bitwise 18:03

Automated token portfolios could become trillions

Bitwise's automated token portfolios, launched with Coinbase and Glider, bring professionally designed strategies onchain with self-custody, DeFi lending/borrowing, and user-adjustable holdings. Ryan says Coinbase has tokenized more stocks and sees automated token portfolios becoming a several-trillion-dollar business in 5-10 years, similar to ETFs going from zero to $30 trillion.

Ish Asad Research Analyst, Bitwise 25:57

Tokenization winners span issuers, DeFi, L1s

Ish frames tokenization winners in three layers: issuers such as Ondo, Xtocks and Dinari generate revenue from bringing stocks onchain; mid-layer DeFi platforms like Aave and Uniswap generate lending/trading activity; and base-layer L1s Ethereum and Solana accrue value as settlement layers, with Ethereum already hosting about half of stablecoins and tokenized assets.

Ish Asad Research Analyst, Bitwise 29:53

DeFi decade; buybacks make tokens attractive

Ish argues crypto is entering a DeFi decade, not just a DeFi summer. Stablecoins, tokenized stocks and other assets will propel capital into DeFi protocols like Aave, Uniswap and Morpho, generating fee revenue, while DeFi tokens are shifting tokenomics to buybacks that directly link token value to protocol growth.

Bitwise: Tokenization Could Be the Biggest Crypto Trade of the Decade

Summary

Ideas

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