Bitwise announces the beginning of a new era for cryptocurrencies.

The recent volatility in the cryptocurrency market has captured the attention of investors, and Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan has made important statements. Hougan stated that the new token sale platform launched by Coinbase on November 10 marks the beginning of a 'regulated ICO era' in the cryptocurrency sector. This development will offer a new period of opportunities for investors until 2026.

Hougan expressed that Bitcoin has the potential to revolutionize stablecoins in dollars and the tokenization of securities processes. He emphasized that capital formation has become the fourth major transformation area of cryptocurrency, highlighting the fundraising, product development, and job creation processes of startups. “Each of these represents trillion-dollar opportunities,” said Hougan, predicting that most assets will be tokenized in the long run, that dollar transactions will be conducted on stablecoin networks, and that Bitcoin will be as accepted as gold.

Hougan recalled that the surge in ICOs during the 2017-2018 period failed due to lack of regulation, emphasizing the importance of structure and regulation in the new era. He evaluated the calls of SEC Chairman Paul Atkins regarding secure token sales and Coinbase's newly launched platform as the “first concrete step” in this area. According to Coinbase's program, only one project will be offered for sale each month under strict disclosure and lock-up conditions. The first sale will take place with the Monad (MON) token between November 17-22, and the Monad mainnet will become active on November 24.

Hougan stated, “This system corrects the mistakes of the 2017-2018 period by self-regulating.” He expressed that they expect several billion-dollar ICOs on platforms like Coinbase by 2026, indicating that this could compete with the 176 traditional initial public offerings in the U.S. that raised a total of $33 billion in 2024. The Bitwise Chief Investment Officer argued that the winners in this process would be smart contract networks like Coinbase, Ethereum, and Solana.

Finally, he encouraged investors by stating, “With the stories of stablecoins and tokenization, cryptocurrency is positioning itself at the center of capital raising again. If we see billions of dollars worth of new ICOs, this narrative will become much more solid.”