Matt Hougan thinks Bitcoin’s (BTC) journey towards becoming a mainstream asset class is a “multiyear story.”
Hougan, the chief investment officer (CIO) of Bitwise Asset Management, says in a new interview with CNBC that the Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) numbers in the first half of 2024 suggest “the birth of a new asset class.”
“I think the right analogy to make is back to the original gold ETF approval in 2004. And the thing I find interesting there, which people forget – is that was one of the most successful ETF launches of all time and pulled in $1.5 billion in 2004. But guess what? In 2005, it did more than $3 billion, in 2006 it did more than $4 billion, in 2007 it did more than $5 billion.
It kept building year after year, and that’s what I don’t think people realize about these Bitcoin ETFs. This was a huge first half, but I think the second half could be bigger, and I think next year could be bigger than that.”
Hougan says that gold in 2004 was a “niche commodity” that was hard to buy and wasn’t in a lot of mainstream portfolios.
The CIO also notes that Bitcoin ETF flows have been steady regardless of whether BTC’s price has been going up or down.
BTC is trading at $57,569 at time of writing.
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