Matt Hougan named two main reasons for the growth of the crypto market

According to Hougan, the cryptocurrency market has shown a strong start to the new year. Bitcoin and Ether have risen by 5–7% since the beginning of January, while speculative coins have posted even stronger performance — for example, the meme coin Dogecoin surged by 29%.

“Fear of forced asset liquidations weighed on the market in the fourth quarter of 2025. That fear has now largely dissipated. If liquidations were going to happen, they most likely would have already occurred. Investors appear to have left the events of October 10 in the past,” suggested the Bitwise executive.

The enactment of the U.S. crypto market structure bill (CLARITY), which the Senate planned to consider in January, is extremely important for the development of the entire crypto industry, the asset manager’s chief investment officer believes. Stock market conditions will also influence the performance of major cryptocurrencies — despite the fact that crypto assets do not have a high correlation with equities, a sharp stock market sell-off could undermine appetite for high-risk assets, the Bitwise representative warned.

“We don’t need a roaring bull market in equities, but a sharp decline — such as a 20% correction in the S&P 500 — would negatively impact all risk assets, including cryptocurrencies,” Hougan believes.

Earlier, Cantor Fitzgerald investment bank expert Brett Knoblaux said that the development of the crypto market is now being driven not by retail traders and investors, but by large corporations.

See also: "Analysts at Bitfinex assessed the impact of oil production in Venezuela on cryptocurrency mining"

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