Quick Take
- Bitwise‘s Matt Hougan said crypto assets are trading at prices that look “too low” as investors have yet to recognize the market’s shift to a revenue-driven model.
- The CIO noted that valuations could “double or more” as the market catches up with the change.
Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan is bullish on crypto assets outside Bitcoin (BTC), arguing that investors are underpricing tokens as protocols increasingly capture revenue, with valuations potentially doubling or more as the market catches up.
In a note published Wednesday, Hougan said crypto is moving beyond an era when successful networks generated substantial economic activity without returning much of that revenue to token holders.
“That era is over,” Hougan said. “We're now in a stage where, outside of Bitcoin, the value of crypto assets will increasingly be defined by the same metric that defines stocks and bonds: revenue.”
Hougan noted that the shift is increasingly visible across DeFi protocols and newer crypto projects that use fees and other revenue to buy back or burn their native tokens.
He pointed to Hyperliquid, which generated more than $800 million in revenue last year and used about 99% of its fee revenue to buy and burn HYPE. Since launching its token in November 2024, the protocol has bought and burned $1.3 billion worth of HYPE, according to the note.
The CIO also expects DeFi applications and Layer 1 networks to capture more revenue over the next 12 to 24 months. He said the stronger link between revenue and token value could result in valuations doubling or more as investors recognize the change.
Revenue capture spreads across crypto
Hougan also highlighted several other protocols that have adopted similar token buyback and burn programs. Uniswap, he said, is generating roughly $100 million in annual revenue, while Aave is targeting about $30 million in annual AAVE burns, or roughly 20% of its annual revenue.
Meanwhile, Pump.fun has generated $328 million in annual revenue and burned $370 million worth of PUMP through April 2026. Lighter has repurchased roughly 6% of LIT's circulating supply and generates $67 million in annual revenue.
Hougan said the “revenue fever” is also spreading to Layer 1 blockchains. Solana's SGP-0003 proposal would increase its fee burn by up to 14 times, while Aptos raised gas fees tenfold earlier this year, with transaction activity nearly tripling and annual token burns rising from about 90,000 to roughly 1.9 million.
The shift follows changes in the regulatory environment, Hougan said. He pointed to the SEC's July 2023 loss in its case against Ripple over XRP and the end of the case in August 2025, followed by Paul Atkins replacing Gary Gensler as SEC chair and adopting a more favorable approach to crypto regulation.