Matt Hougan, chief investment officer of Bitwise Asset Management, discusses a milestone Bitwise reached this week -- hitting $100 million in assets under management. He also covered

• what has been driving interest in Bitwise products


• the two types of customers who have been especially interested in purchasing crypto assets this year and why


• what this says about the maturation of the industry compared to during the 2017 bubble


• how conversations with Bitwise customers have changed since then


• what impact this week's bullish JPMorgan research note about Bitcoin could have on investors and why it was so significant


• what the significance will be of the integration of bitcoin, ether and other cryptocurrencies by PayPal next year 


• how Microstrategy and Square putting Bitcoin on their balance sheets will pave the way for other corporations to do so


• how the new Fed policy of targeting an average 2% inflation rate could affect Bitcoin


• how recent regulatory actions, such as with BitMEX, affect the likelihood of a Bitcoin ETF being approved in the next few years


• how a company like Bitwise, which interfaces with traditional investors, creates viable investment vehicles around DeFi for its clientele


• what a Trump win vs. a Biden win could mean for the crypto industry

Thank you to our sponsor!

Crypto.com: http://crypto.com

Episode links:

Matt Hougan: https://twitter.com/Matt_Hougan

Bitwise: https://www.bitwiseinvestments.com

Bitwise reaches $100 million in AUM: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bitwise-surpasses-100-million-in-assets-under-management-due-to-rising-demand-for-crypto-from-hedge-funds-and-financial-advisors-301161317.html?tc=eml_cleartime

JPMorgan research note on Bitcoin: https://fortune.com/2020/10/26/jp-morgan-chase-bitcoin-predictions-analyst-jpm-cryptocurrency/

https://twitter.com/DTAPCAP/status/1319703750450302980?s=20

Matt's piece on the significance of the OCC letter giving banks the authority to custody crypto assets: https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthougan/2020/07/27/the-occs-notice-on-crypto-is-a-really-big-deal/

Matt's essay on how the Fed's new approach to inflation could affect Bitcoin: https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthougan/2020/09/22/this-new-fed-policy-could-be-a-game-changer-for-bitcoin/

Matt's post on DeFi: https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthougan/2020/07/13/why-ethereum-has-valuethe--opportunity-in-programmable-money--defi/#67e88a364818

News Recap:

https://unchainedpodcast.com/a-binance-decoy-for-us-regulators/