Bitwise "Virtual asset value lies in trillion-dollar markets"

A claim has emerged that the true value of virtual assets (cryptocurrencies) lies in targeting massive markets worth trillions of dollars.

On the 1st (local time), according to CoinDesk, Matt Hougan (Matt Hougan), Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of Bitwise said in a report, "Virtual assets, including Bitcoin (BTC), are targeting markets that are enormous in size itself, and this is a point critics overlook."

Hougan said Bitcoin (BTC)'s market capitalization of 2.3 trillion dollars is often compared to Amazon's corporate value, but it can be justified by the fact that it is actually competing with the $25 trillion gold market. He explained that even capturing less than 10% of gold's share would support its current value. In contrast, for a startup to replace Amazon, it would have to dominate the entire market.

The same logic applies to Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL). The report analyzed that these blockchains, which target payments, settlement, and asset tokenization, could capture parts of the global payments industry—sized at 18 quintillion dollars annually—and the $665 trillion stock, bond, and real estate markets. Accordingly, ETH is recognized at about 500 billion dollars and SOL at about 100 billion dollars in value.

CIO Hougan also said that recent talk of stablecoin issuer Tether (Tether) being valued at 500 billion dollars is in the same context, and he projected that if it became a replacement for emerging market currencies, its asset size could expand to trillions of dollars and exceed Saudi Aramco's annual 120 billion dollars in revenue.

He emphasized, "Virtual assets are not aiming for small opportunities but are targeting the world's largest markets," adding, "What investors should remember is not which token succeeds, but whether the virtual assets industry as a whole will become more important in the future."