Bitwise CIO says crypto investors are underestimating tokenization and transaction growth

Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan thinks the crypto market is about to get a lot busier. His prediction: blockchain transaction volumes could grow by a factor of 10 to 100 in the coming years, driven by two forces that are already picking up speed. The first is the tokenization of real-world assets, which is turning everything from US Treasuries to equities into on-chain instruments. The second is the rise of AI agents that can execute trades, manage capital, and make financial decisions without a human clicking “confirm.” Together, Hougan argues, these trends mean investors are badly underestimating the future activity, addressable market, and staying power of crypto-native platforms. Tokenization is no longer a whitepaper fantasy The numbers backing up the tokenization thesis have moved well past the “promising pilot” stage. Tokenized US Treasuries alone have reached $12.88 billion, a figure that would have seemed absurd just a few years ago when the entire concept was largely theoretical. Ethereum remains the center of gravity for this market, hosting roughly 61.4% of all tokenized assets globally. That slice of the pie represents approximately $206.2 billion in value...