Overview
- In a June 2 memo Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan said the crypto market has shifted from a momentum-driven trade into a contrarian, fundamentals-focused bet.
- Hougan reported steep year-to-date declines for big tokens, with Bitcoin down about 21 percent and Ethereum, Solana, and XRP down roughly 33 percent, 37 percent, and 31 percent respectively.
- He identified a flow of institutional money into AI-related equities and private-market names such as SpaceX and Anthropic as a primary force draining capital from crypto markets.
- Investors are rotating into smaller projects with clearer revenue or business models, with Hyperliquid, Zcash, Stellar, and BNB posting notable gains in May while large caps languished.
- Hougan warned that ETF outflows and low spot volumes mean large tokens are unlikely to rally sustainably until Congress resolves the Clarity Act, which currently has widely divergent passage odds and is creating allocation paralysis for institutions.