Bitwise’s chief investment officer, Matt Hougan, attributes his positive outlook on the layer-1 blockchain Solana to two primary factors that distinguish it from competitors like Ethereum.
“I love investments that offer me two opportunities to succeed,” Hougan stated in an X post on Thursday, describing how Solana (SOL) is making a “bet” that the stablecoin and tokenization infrastructure market will expand, and that it will “capture an increasing share of that market,” which “seems like promising bets to me.”
“I believe people significantly underestimate how rapidly and extensively these technologies will transform markets. It’s easy for me to envision this market increasing by 10x or more,” Hougan further explained.
“I’m very optimistic about Ethereum and select other blockchains. However, I believe Solana has strong chances of capturing a bigger slice of this market. It provides fast, user-friendly technology and is supported by a fantastic community with an aggressive development mindset.”
Earlier this month, Hougan lauded Solana, predicting it would become the preferred network for stablecoins on Wall Street. Meanwhile, Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley has also been promoting it, arguing that Solana could surpass Ethereum in the staking exchange-traded fund market, highlighting its design as more beneficial for investors.
Solana is far from rivaling Ethereum for now
Ethereum continues to be the market leader by a substantial margin, boasting the highest stablecoin market capitalization exceeding $163 billion and a total locked value over $85 billion, according to data aggregator DefiLlama.
In contrast, Solana lags significantly with a stablecoin market capitalization of over $14.9 billion and a total locked value of more than $11.3 billion.
Nevertheless, Hougan identified Tron, Solana, and BNB Smart Chain as “top challengers” for leadership.
Solana is gaining ground with institutional interest
He also mentioned that institutional interest in Solana is on the rise, highlighted by financial services company Western Union adopting the Solana blockchain for its stablecoin settlement system this Tuesday.
“It’s a newer asset and is catching up with its peers in securing institutional mandates, but it’s making progress,” Hougan noted.
“If I’m correct, the combination of a growing market and an increasing market share will create explosive growth for Solana. Just like with Bitcoin.”
Related: Can Solana rival Wall Street? Kyle Samani thinks so
Bitwise offers products associated with Solana, including its staking ETF, which launched on Tuesday.
Bitcoin also has two ways to win
In addition to Solana, Hougan stated that Bitcoin has two avenues for success as well, through a “bet” that the global store of value market will expand and that Bitcoin (BTC) will capture a greater share, which requires just one to “happen for me to be successful.”
“A common error many investors make is focusing too much on Bitcoin winning market share and insufficiently on the overall market growth. The global store of value market has expanded by 10x in the last 20 years, from under $3 trillion in 2005 to $27.5 trillion today.”
Magazine: Sharplink exec shocked by level of BTC and ETH ETF hodling — Joseph Chalom
