Bitwise CIO Sees Crypto Valuations Doubling on Token Buybacks

Uniswap and Aave provide additional models. Uniswap activated protocol fees under its UNIfication overhaul, allowing collected fees to be claimed by burning UNI. Aave DAO purchased more than 205,000 AAVE during the first 10 months of its buyback program. Hougan expects similar revenue-capture mechanisms to spread across DeFi applications and layer-1 networks over the next 12 to 24 months.

The broader shift could reprice crypto assets sharply if investors begin applying more familiar revenue-based metrics to projects whose tokens increasingly benefit from protocol activity, he said.

Still, Hougan acknowledged an important difference between tokens and traditional equities. Token holders generally lack shareholders' legal claims to cash flow, and community-controlled tokenomics can be changed, meaning buyback or burn policies may not be permanent. He linked the trend to a more permissive U.S. regulatory environment after years when projects avoided revenue-sharing features because of securities-law concerns.

The valuation opportunity comes with structural uncertainty. Crypto may gain more measurable economics without gaining the same legal protections that make corporate cash flows easier to model for traditional investors.

Bitwise ETF clients purchased more than $5 million worth of HYPE during the previous week, on-chain activity shows.