Bitwise Chief Funding Officer Matthew Hougan on Monday stated whereas meme coin ETFs usually are not fully off the desk, they don’t seem to be a “free-for-all,” highlighting the necessity for a liquid, globally distributed market with restricted insider affect.
What Occurred: Talking with Benzinga at The Digital Belongings Discussion board in London, Hougan mentioned the potential for these ETFs sooner or later, whereas additionally emphasizing that it wouldn’t be for all belongings and that they must be among the many prime and most liquid.
Hougan cited Dogecoin DOGE/USD for example of a meme coin that’s long-lasting, given its 12-year historical past, truthful launch and lively group.
“So is it an asset that the majority institutional or skilled buyers ought to allocate to? No, undoubtedly not. It has no ‘basic worth’ past its memetic,” whereas additionally noting “Is it an necessary financial asset like Bitcoin BTC/USD? No.”
Nevertheless, he clarified, “Is it an ephemeral pump and dump scheme? No.”
Hougan emphasised that the core argument for providing a Dogecoin ETF is to supply a safe and cost-effective means for the present group to put money into the token, relatively than by way of probably dangerous centralized exchanges.
Nevertheless, when requested if the approval of a Dogecoin ETF would pave the way in which for different meme coin ETFs corresponding to Shiba Inu SHIB/USD, Bonk BONK/USD or Brett BRETT/USD, Hougan cautioned in opposition to a binary perspective, stating that it is not “nothing or every part.”
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Why It Issues: Hougan indicated that his firm wouldn’t be creating ETF’s for all crypto belongings, saying “We don’t need ETFs on belongings which might be illiquid, manipulated or important insider possession. Like these shouldn’t exist they usually don’t.”
He defined the necessity for a globally distributed, extremely liquid market with minimal insider affect, saying, “So what crypto belongings have a broadly distributed, extraordinarily liquid international market the place it’s onerous for insiders to control them?”
He famous that he has not achieved the work on belongings like Bonk or different meme cash, which might point out a hesitance to create these ETFs.
He additionally expressed a perception that, whereas he expects ETFs for the most important, high-quality crypto belongings among the many prime 10-20, most meme cash will doubtless not qualify for an ETF, because of the truth that these smaller market cap cash could be too costly to run the ETFs on.
Hougan famous “by the point you get to asset like 25 is a tiny fraction of asset primary.”
He additional predicted important inflows into Bitcoin ETFs, anticipating north of $50 billion in 2025.
He defined his rationale by stating that the present buyers will “double down” on their holdings, whereas there will even be new cash coming from institutional gamers.
He emphasised that whereas macro circumstances create short-term volatility, the long run drivers for Bitcoin are particular to crypto.
“Bitcoin goes to prime $200,000 this yr,” because of the truth that new demand is greater than the brand new provide, from each ETF’s and company gamers. I see at the moment as a shopping for alternative,” he stated.
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