Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan Backs the Potential of a Brewing Crypto Altseason

In every market cycle, the altseason is an anticipated period for investors marked by a general altcoins’ price outperformance against Bitcoin.

The altseason is a period in every market cycle that investors anticipate and is characterized by a widespread outperformance of altcoins against Bitcoin. However, with the surge in the number of altcoins over the last four years, there have been doubts about an altseason in the current bull run, as noted by crypto analysts.

But Bitwise Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Matt Hougan is optimistic about the possibility of a brewing crypto altseason. According to the key crypto figure and market pundit, certain DeFi developments indicate a strong price surge for the crypto market.

Hougan highlighted several developments, particularly in the DeFi industry, that suggest an incoming altcoin bull rally in an X post on February 21. First, Hougan points to the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) recent decision to drop its lawsuit against the Coinbase Exchange.

In June 2023, the US regulator charged Coinbase with several alleged securities violations, including operating as an unregistered exchange and broker. However, in a surprising turn of events, the SEC decided to withdraw its complaint, ending a two-year legal battle.

The Bitwise CIO also mentions DEX aggregator Jupiter’s recent move to implement a fee structure that introduces a minimum of 0.01% fees on all platform swaps, creating a more efficient operational model.

Another development Hougan raises is the announcement by Ondo Finance of the Ondo Global Market, a tokenization platform that will provide on-chain exposure to US securities like stocks, bonds, and exchange-traded funds listed on the NYSE and NASDAQ.

Finally, Hougan also highlights the launch of the Unichain – an Ethereum-layer 2 solution by Uniswap labs designed to improve liquidity, cross-chain operatalibility, and significantly reduce transaction fees.

These are all individual developments, but Hougan argues that they can be seen as part of a broader effort by the current US Government to create a “fair regulatory environment.” This will allow crypto companies and DeFi projects to operate effectively and expand their reach beyond the digital asset space.

The potential of this scenario is likely to drive investor engagement, serving as an early indication of altseason. In particular, Matt Hougan explains that the DeFi market presents a lot of hidden potential to influence the non-crypto markets under the right conditions.

At press time, the crypto market cap is valued at $3.12 trillion after a 1.78% decline in the past day. Bitcoin maintains strong market influence with a dominance of 60.4%, followed by Ethereum (10.2%) and other altcoins (29.5%). Meanwhile, the Altseason index is at 31 strongly in favor of the premier cryptocurrency.