Bitwise CIO: Solana Is Designed to Be the New Wall Street of Crypto

Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan has said that Solana is uniquely positioned to become the new Wall Street of crypto.

###Previous Major Rallies

Highlighting the clear pattern behind major crypto rallies, Hougan noted that Bitcoin’s price surged following the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs in January 2024.

The launch of Ethereum-focused treasuries, including Tom Lee’s BitMine, further fueled the rally, pushing ETH’s price to triple as well.

###Solana to Follow Bitcoin and Ethereum Growth Pattern

Interestingly, Hougan expects Solana to follow the same pattern of growth. He highlighted the imminent launch of multiple exchange-traded funds (ETFs) focused on Solana. In the meantime, optimism is building that the SEC could approve Solana ETFs, including Bitwise’s proposal, as early as next month.

The Bitwise CIO also highlighted Solana’s upcoming Alpenglow upgrade, which aims to achieve transaction finality of 100-150 milliseconds, along with rising interest in tokenization initiatives, as key catalysts that could fuel SOL’s rally.

Adding to this momentum are high-profile advocates such as Dan Morehead of Pantera Capital and Kyle Samani of Multicoin Capital, who are promoting Solana’s role in global finance. Notably, while Morehead led Pantera to invest $1.1 billion in SOL, Samani’s Multicoin Capital collaborated with Galaxy Digital and Jump Crypto to establish a $1.65 billion Solana treasury.

Given that Solana’s market cap is relatively small compared to Bitcoin and Ethereum, Hougan argued that even modest inflows could have an outsized impact on SOL’s price.

###Solana’s New Wall Street Ambition

Hougan also noted that Solana is designed to be the blockchain powering the tokenization of mutual funds, bonds, and stocks. He underscored the growing interest among financial leaders in tokenizing traditional assets, citing recent remarks from SEC Chair Paul Atkins.

Despite expecting competition from rival networks like Ethereum in tokenization, Hougan believes Solana is well-suited to “serve the tokenization use case.”

As a result, he described Solana as the new Wall Street in the crypto sector.