Bitwise Says Q3 Rally Points to a “Crypto Spring”

Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan believes the third quarter may be remembered as one of the best in crypto history. The firm’s large cap crypto index rose 46.4%, and US spot Bitcoin ETFs took in $6 billion, pushing their yearly net flows back into positive territory.

Hougan says nearly every indicator Bitwise tracks turned sharply higher, while three months earlier prices, onchain activity and ETF flows were all falling. Even so, the index is still down 6.2% for the year through September.

Bitcoin, Ether and Solana Price Gains

All ten assets in the index posted double digit gains. Bitcoin climbed 42.3%, Ether 69.1% and Solana 59.2%, while Chainlink led the pack with 97.6%. Tokenized equities grew 65.5% to nearly $3.2 billion, and open interest in decentralized perpetual futures reached a record near $26 billion. Miners lagged, with Riot Platforms down 26.4%, Hut 8 down 25.4% and Galaxy Digital down 16.8%. Public companies holding Bitcoin fell to 173, though their combined holdings rose 0.5%, and Ether holders dropped from 40 to 35.

What Bitwise Expects in Q4

Bitwise expects the SEC’s innovation exemption to move tokenization from pilots to production, bringing billions in assets to Ethereum, Solana and NEAR. It also expects perpetual futures, which have traded over $6 trillion this year, up 42%, to accelerate as US investors arrive.