Bitwise: Bitcoin is experiencing its IPO moment; sideways movement or even decline may be a "gift."

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7 hours ago

Original author: Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer of Bitwise; Translation by: Jinse Finance

The consolidation of Bitcoin indicates that its IPO moment has arrived—this is also the reason why the allocation ratio of BTC is expected to increase.

Jordi Visser is one of my favorite macro thinkers, and I read every article he writes.

In his latest article (refer to Jinse Finance's previous report “Bitcoin's Silent IPO”), he explores a core question: despite the continuous good news—strong ETF inflows, breakthroughs in regulation, and sustained institutional demand—why does Bitcoin still frustratingly remain in a consolidation phase or even experience downward trading?

This is the best analysis I have read about the current state of the Bitcoin market in the past six months, and I strongly recommend you read it.

Visser believes that Bitcoin is undergoing a "silent IPO," transforming from a crazy idea into a mainstream success story. He points out that typically, when stocks complete an IPO, they often consolidate for 6 to 18 months before starting an upward trend.

Take Facebook as an example; it went public on May 12, 2012, at a price of $38 per share, and for more than a year, its stock price remained stagnant or even declined, only returning to the IPO price of $38 after 15 months. Google and other high-profile tech startups exhibited similar trends.

Visser states that consolidation does not necessarily indicate a problem with the asset itself. This situation often arises because founders and early employees cash out—those who bet on the startup when the risks were extremely high are now reaping hundredfold returns and naturally want to realize their profits. The process of insiders selling and institutions taking over takes time, and only when this transfer of ownership reaches a certain balance can the stock price embark on an upward path again.

Visser notes that this is very similar to the current state of Bitcoin. Those early believers who bought Bitcoin when the price was $1, $10, $100, or even $1,000 now hold epoch-making wealth. As Bitcoin enters the mainstream—ETFs are listed on the NYSE, large companies are building Bitcoin reserves, and sovereign wealth funds are entering the market—these investors can finally cash in their returns.

Kudos to them! Their patience has been richly rewarded. Five years ago, if someone sold $1 billion worth of Bitcoin, it could have thrown the market into chaos; but now, a diversified buyer group and ample trading volume can absorb such large transactions more smoothly.

It should be noted that on-chain data shows that the seller composition is quite complex, so Visser's analysis is only part of the current market drivers, but it is a crucial part that deserves our consideration regarding its implications for the future market.

Here are two core points I extracted from this article:

Point One: Significant Bullish Potential

Many cryptocurrency investors felt frustrated after reading Visser's article: “The early OGs are selling Bitcoin to institutions! Do they know something we don’t?”

This interpretation is completely misguided.

The selling by early investors does not mean the journey of an asset is coming to an end; it merely opens a new phase.

Looking at Facebook again: indeed, its stock price remained below $38 for a year after the IPO, but it has now risen to $637, an increase of 1576%. If I could have bought all Facebook shares at $38 back in 2012, I would have done so without hesitation.

Of course, if I had invested during Facebook's Series A funding, the return might have been higher, but it would also come with much greater risk.

The same goes for Bitcoin today. In the future, we may find it hard to see Bitcoin achieve hundredfold returns within a year again, but once this "chip transfer phase" is completed, its upside potential remains enormous. As Bitwise pointed out in the report “Bitcoin Long-Term Capital Market Hypothesis,” we believe Bitcoin will reach $1.3 million per coin by 2035, and I personally think this prediction is still conservative.

I would also like to add: the Bitcoin that remains after the early OGs have sold differs from a company post-IPO in a key way—companies need to continue growing after completing an IPO. The reason Facebook could not jump from $38 to $637 overnight is that its revenue and profits at the time were insufficient to support such a valuation; it needed to expand revenue, develop new business lines, and focus on mobile, all of which came with risks.

But Bitcoin is not like that. Once the early OGs finish selling, Bitcoin does not need to do anything further. It needs to grow from a market cap of $2.5 trillion to a gold-level market cap of $25 trillion, and all it requires is widespread acceptance.

I am not saying this will happen overnight, but it is entirely possible that it could grow faster than Facebook.

From a long-term perspective, Bitcoin's consolidation is a “gift”—a great opportunity to buy more chips before it restarts its upward trend.

Point Two: The Era of 1% Bitcoin Allocation is Over

As Visser mentioned in the article, companies that have completed an IPO carry far less risk than in the startup phase. Their equity distribution is broader, they are subject to stricter regulations, and they have more opportunities for business diversification. Investing in Facebook post-IPO is far less risky than funding a college dropout working out of a party house in Palo Alto.

The same is true for Bitcoin. As Bitcoin transitions from early adopters to institutional investors and as a technology matures, it no longer faces existential risks like it did ten years ago, and its maturity as an asset class has significantly increased. This is clearly reflected in Bitcoin's volatility—since the Bitcoin ETF began trading in January 2024, its volatility has decreased significantly.

Historical Volatility of Bitcoin

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Data source: Bitwise Asset Management, data range from January 1, 2013, to September 30, 2025

This brings an important insight for investors: in the future, Bitcoin's return may be slightly lower than before, but its volatility will significantly decrease. As an asset allocator, my response to this change is not to sell—after all, we predict that Bitcoin will still be one of the best-performing major asset classes globally over the next decade—but to increase holdings.

In other words, lower volatility means that holding more of this type of asset will be safer.

Visser's article has further convinced me of a trend—over the past few months, Bitwise has held hundreds of meetings with advisors, institutions, and other professional investors, and we have found that the era of 1% Bitcoin allocation is completely over. More and more investors need to consider 5% as the starting point for BTC allocation.

Bitcoin is experiencing its IPO moment. If history is any guide, we should embrace this new phase by increasing our holdings.

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