Any recovery in the crypto market is likely to take longer than traders expect because Wall Street investors and advisory firms are now focusing on real-world applications, such as tokenization, and artificial intelligence rather than straight digital assets, according to Matt Hougan, the chief investment officer of asset-management company Bitwise.
“We’ve lost the attention of investors to other hot trends,” most notably, for now, AI, Hougan said in an interview over email. “I think the coming bull market will be slower and less volatile [than] in the past.”
Even so, firms that advise high-net-worth individuals and institutional capital, known in the U.S. as registered investment advisors (RIAs), remain highly engaged with bitcoin , the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, and crypto overall.
“Interest is as high as it’s ever been,” said Hougan, himself a long-time bitcoin bull. “I think that’s a very bullish long-term signal. … I think it’s going north of $1 million in the next 10 years. I have less certainty around how, when or if it has bottomed. I think we have to wait to see how the four-year cycle plays out.”