Matt Hougan & Ryan Rasmussen: The Next Bull Run Is Already Here (There Are No Sellers Left)

Matt Hougan sees a strong long-term setup for crypto, even as an AI bubble, Federal Reserve shocks, and the election could unsettle markets in the near term. He argues that much of the capital likely to leave crypto has already rotated out, between October and June, and says there may be “no more sellers left.” Slower-moving catalysts, including adviser allocations and regulation, could outweigh near-term risks over time. The speakers expect AI to keep competing for investment in the short run, potentially around the anticipated Anthropic IPO in November, but see a possible rotation back to crypto in December. If inflows then rise while selling remains limited, even modest buying could have a large effect on prices.

Stablecoins and tokenization are still non-consensus opportunities, and many traditional-finance professionals remain unfamiliar with stablecoins. One speaker cited 600% stablecoin growth but argued that this could look modest if regulation, major-bank adoption, and institutional use accelerate. ETFs lower the barrier for advisers by letting them buy crypto through brokerage accounts instead of using centralized or decentralized exchanges. Bitcoin is likely to be the first and largest allocation for many non-crypto-native investors, often starting at 1–2%, alongside assets with revenue, strong user metrics, or ETF access. Hougan says tokenization, perpetuals, stablecoins, and lending protocols could each see addressable markets grow roughly 100 times as they expand from crypto assets to global assets and from crypto-native users to all investors. Rasmussen says regulation, institutional adoption, and investor access are now in place to support that expansion.

Hougan argues that a larger store-of-value market could create room for smaller assets without displacing Bitcoin’s leadership. He says Bitcoin currently holds about 99% of that market, but a 10% share of a $4 trillion market would be much larger than 10% of a $400 billion market; he sees a possible future with Bitcoin dominant and assets such as Zcash alongside it. Rasmussen points to gold’s growth from a $2 trillion asset 20 years ago to $30 trillion, and Bitcoin’s rise from less than 1% of the store-of-value market 10 years ago to at least 5% today. He expects concern about debt, deficits, and debasement to expand the market over the next decade, while stressing that Bitcoin is not at risk of losing its leadership anytime soon.

Rather than trying to trade every market move, the speakers suggest deciding what percentage of a network an investor wants to own and paying attention to relative valuation. They see a basket as more suitable than trying to identify a single winner in an early market: traditional-finance allocators could set a target crypto share, divide it among Bitcoin and several projects, and rebalance monthly or quarterly. A move from 0% to 2% crypto exposure could initially benefit Bitcoin and later lift other assets. The discussion cites Solana’s market capitalization at about one-fifth of Ethereum’s and sees 10–30x potential for NEAR if it succeeds, while emphasizing that such an outcome is not guaranteed.

Hyperliquid, NEAR, Zcash, and other projects with strong narratives and fundamentals outperformed much of the market over the past 12 months. The speakers distinguish large, established projects from venture-style bets and expect returns to become more differentiated as fundamentals matter more than broad market momentum. They disagree on whether building has become harder, but agree that weak projects can no longer rely on market beta while strong teams still have opportunities. Revenue and buyers focused on value could reduce the risk of 90% pullbacks for some projects, but only if buyers step in when prices fall. Rasmussen says the team is bullish on Pearl and plans to research it further, describing it as a project finding its footing in a down market.

Hougan says consensus winners still have room to run, potentially by 10x or 20x, because he does not think the bull-market phase has really begun. Rasmussen expects projects that have performed well in a bear market to benefit if a bull market arrives in late 2026 or early 2027. Traditional advisers and Wall Street investors mostly ask about blue-chip assets and often have not heard of other projects, leaving lesser-known projects with strong fundamentals and novel products room to benefit as capital enters crypto.