Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer of cryptocurrency index fund manager Bitwise, has highlighted a trend in the market that he believes is being largely overlooked: major tokens are increasingly improving their mechanisms for value capture.
In a recent post on the social media platform X, Matt Hougan emphasized that one source of alpha is identifying developments that may be lost amid broader market activity. He noted that during the current market pullback, important changes and updates are often overshadowed or ignored.
Matt Hougan pointed to several examples of tokens enhancing their value capture, including UNI, ETH, and XRP. Regarding UNI, he observed that the token’s primary criticism has historically been that it functions mainly as a governance token, providing little direct benefit to holders despite Uniswap’s overall popularity.
However, UNI is considering activating the “fee switch,” which, if approved, would allocate approximately sixteen percent of trading fees to burn UNI tokens. The expert suggested that this adjustment could eventually position UNI among the top ten tokens by market capitalization, reflecting a stronger alignment between protocol activity and token holder value.
He also discussed Ethereum, noting that upcoming protocol updates, specifically the Fusaka upgrade estimated for December, are expected to increase value capture. Matt Hougan explained that the upgrade introduces features such as a minimum fee for recording Layer 2 data, among other changes, which could substantially boost revenue capture on the network. He cited a report by Fidelity that highlighted these developments and suggested that the market may begin to recognize the positive implications of Fusaka once it is implemented, potentially positioning ETH as a leader in any cryptocurrency market recovery.
Bitwise CIO further observed that XRP is demonstrating a growing focus on value capture, with the community exploring mechanisms such as staking that would alter the economics for token holders. Across all three examples, he identified a common theme: the potential for value capture in major digital assets is increasing and is not a static metric. He emphasized that many market participants continue to view token value capture as fixed, whereas in reality, these mechanisms are evolving and improving over time.
Last week, the broader cryptocurrency market experienced selling pressure. The total market cap fell by about 9.4 % in one week, with the decline largely led by BTC and ETH, while many altcoins fell but to a lesser extent. Altcoins outside the top two saw average declines around 7.1 %.
This week, there are some early signs of modest recovery in altcoins. Market commentary notes moderate gains for some major alternatives while the market remains cautious.
Amid this decline, Bitwise’s spot XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker XRP last week.
In the United States, there has been a surge of new ETFs designed to track a range of altcoins, with recent launches providing exposure to assets such as Solana, XRP, Litecoin, and Hedera. In addition to the ETFs that have already launched, issuers are exploring funds that would track the prices of cryptocurrencies including Cardano, Avalanche, Polkadot, and others.
Meanwhile, the NYSE has recently approved today’s listing of Grayscale’s XRP- and DOGE-based ETFs.
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