Bitwise CIO Projects 100-Fold Jump in Blockchain Transaction Volume

Combining extended market hours with machine-driven activity makes a tenfold increase in stock transaction volumes readily achievable, Hougan wrote, with increases of 50 times or 100 times remaining plausible.

Similar dynamics apply to payments and other financial activity where AI-driven processes could generate substantially greater volumes than today's human-centric systems. Many blockchain networks earn revenue from transaction fees or related metrics. A surge of this magnitude could translate into higher protocol earnings even if per-transaction fees compress as scale rises, Hougan said.

Hougan's broader note also addressed other investor errors. He said many underestimate the addressable market for crypto applications because tokenization brings trillions in traditional assets on-chain. He also warned against overestimating the competitive advantage of traditional finance incumbents relative to established crypto-native platforms.

Hougan acknowledged that expanded trading windows alone may not produce proportional volume growth. The combination of tokenization and AI automation, he said, positions blockchain networks for substantially elevated activity levels. Investors who extrapolate from present-day figures risk missing the opportunity, he said.