Making Sense of the 2023 Crypto Headlines with Matthew Hougan, CIO of Bitwise Asset Management

This week’s guest is Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise Asset Management, a company focused on bringing crypto education and investment products to professional investors. Not only is Matt at the helm of a large US firm sitting at the intersection of traditional and decentralized finance, he’s also far and away one of the most thoughtful and pragmatic educators in the space. Especially when it comes to crypto for TradFi professionals.

Matt and I discuss crypto market cyclicality, tips for onlookers that want to filter out the noise in a sea of headlines, what crypto-related firms and projects in the US could be doing better to promote positive change, the biggest headlines and US regulatory headwinds of 2023, and what even the biggest of crypto skeptics should be keeping an eye on as the space continues to evolve.

For more information about Bitwise Asset Management, please visit: https://bitwiseinvestments.com/

Show notes:

[0:05] Introduction to Matt Hougan, Bitwise Asset Management

[1:39] Making sense of the Crypto headlines in 2023

[4:37] What is driving the price of bitcoin and other crypto recently

[7:35] Material vs. noise following the various crypto fallouts (FTX, etc...)

[10:12] Flushing out the bad actors in crypto

[12:04] Cutting through all the noise and how to think about portfolio allocation with crypto

[16:50] Crypto education for institutional investors - what's been the feedback?

[19:15] Any growth from the institutional interest/activity in crypto recently?

[21:16] Hesitation for crypto still tied to regulatory uncertainty?

[24:04] What can folks in crypto do to bridge the gap for folks that are hesitant

[26:17] Main actions that crypto, as a whole, can do when having the conversation around crypto; engaging to have good regulation

[28:25] Do regulators want to engage?

[30:24] What is happening at Coinbase and what it means for crypto (SEC serving the Wells Notice) and timeline following the serving of the Wells Notice

[37:38] Bitcoin spot ETF in the US and how Grayscale working on this

[41:55] Why is the law on the side of crypto?

[44:03] How does Matt see the rest of 2023 going for crypto?

All opinions expressed by your hosts and the podcasts guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of the hosts or any of their affiliates. This podcast is for commercial and informational purposes only, is not investment advice, and should not be relied upon for any investment decisions. We are not recommending any securities or cryptocurrencies, nor is this an offer or sale of a security or cryptocurrency.