Bitwise CIO Says Investors Should Look Beyond Bitcoin Across Digital Assets

Digital Asset Investment Insight Forum 2026

Matthew Hougan, Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise

Bitwise said investors should begin looking beyond Bitcoin and broaden their exposure to a wider range of digital assets. After the launch of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, the market has entered a new phase of growth, and the next set of opportunities will come from across the digital-asset ecosystem, the firm said.

Matthew Hougan, Bitwise's chief investment officer, delivered a presentation on July 2 at the Digital Asset Investment Insight Forum 2026, or DAIF 2026, at the Conrad Seoul in Yeouido. Speaking on "Digital Asset Investment Strategy After Spot Bitcoin ETFs," he said the market over the next few years will move beyond its focus on Bitcoin and Ether and toward a much broader range of assets. That shift will make it increasingly important to distinguish between assets that are worth owning and those that are not.

Hougan compared the transition to the evolution of the internet industry. Investors in the early internet era had opportunities not only in Google, but also in Amazon, Netflix, Salesforce and Nvidia. Blockchain, he said, is also a general-purpose technology that will give rise to a wide range of applications and investment opportunities.

He described Bitcoin as the core asset in the digital-asset market. Calling it "digital gold" that allows investors to store wealth without relying on banks or governments, Hougan said Bitcoin could account for 25% of the gold store-of-value market by 2035. In that scenario, its price could reach $1.3 million.

At the same time, he said Bitcoin alone does not explain the broader blockchain industry. Ether helps move assets including dollars, stocks and bonds across blockchains, while Solana competes in the same market with faster transaction processing. Chainlink connects real-world data to blockchains, and Uniswap serves as key infrastructure for digital-asset trading. Blockchain is a single technology, he added, but the services built on top of it are highly diverse.

Hougan also proposed an investment approach aimed at the market as a whole rather than selecting individual tokens. More than 17,000 digital assets now exist globally, with new projects appearing every day. Rather than trying to pick winners one by one, investors can use strategies designed to capture the growth of the broader market. He pointed to Bitwise 10, the firm's flagship index product, as an example of index-based investing.

He also suggested allocating a portion of portfolios to digital assets. Adding 2.5% to 5% in digital assets to a traditional 60/40 stock-and-bond portfolio increased long-term returns while only modestly raising risk, he said. Over not only the past 10 years but also every rolling three-year period analyzed, digital-asset allocations improved both absolute returns and risk-adjusted returns.

Closing the presentation, Hougan said the digital-asset industry is only beginning a new phase of expansion. Just as the internet gave rise to industries such as search, e-commerce and artificial intelligence, blockchain will create thousands of new use cases, he said. Investors, he added, should look not only at Bitcoin but at the growth of the entire digital-asset ecosystem.

Lee Young-min, Bloomingbit reporter/Kim Su-hyun, Bloomingbit reporter