Matt Hougan: Strikes on Iran will expedite the shift of finances to blockchain, 2026/03/04 16:00:47

The Chief Investment Officer of Bitwise Asset Management, Matt Hougan, stated that the military actions by the U.S. and Israel against Iran will accelerate the transition of traditional finance to blockchain technology.

The executive highlighted that the cryptocurrency platform Hyperliquid became a hub for trading assets—oil and tokenized gold—over the past weekend while American, European, and Asian stock exchanges were closed.

Trading volume on Hyperliquid in recent days surpassed $11.5 billion. Bloomberg reported on the market’s response to the strikes on Iran, citing the oil contract on Hyperliquid as the most relevant price benchmark—something that would have been unimaginable just a year ago, noted the Bitwise investment director.

There was a significant increase in trading volume for tokenized gold: Tether’s product, Tether Gold, recorded a daily volume exceeding $300 million. Prediction markets on Kalshi and Polymarket also exhibited a notable rise in user activity. Hougan acknowledged that he has revised his outlook on the transition of traditional finance to blockchain, which he initially anticipated would occur in five to ten years, at the earliest.

“I am convinced that this transition will happen much sooner than expected. Blockchain renders traditional platforms with their next-day trade execution completely outdated,” declared the investment director.

According to him, hedge funds, banks, and any major players looking to “trade on competitive terms” will not be able to ignore reality. They will need to establish cryptocurrency stablecoin wallets and move to decentralized platforms like Hyperliquid, believes the Bitwise representative.

Previously, Matt Hougan suggested that only decentralized finance (DeFi) could pull the cryptocurrency market out of its bearish cycle.