ETF.com President and Bitwise Researcher Matt Hougan: 95 Percent of Cryptos Will Die

Matt Hougan, Global Head of Research at Bitwise Asset Management and president at ETF.com, expressed his idea that most cryptocurrencies will die in an interview with Bloomberg published on Feb. 5.

According to Hougan, there is a lot of what he defines as bubble-related bad activity in the crypto industry that is currently "Getting cleared up." He also said that he expects important things will come from what will be left, "Just like from the dotcom ashes emerged Amazon, Google, Facebook, etc."

Hougan also pointed out that he's "Way more bullish on crypto assets" than on blockchain.

"If you remember the early days of the internet everyone was really excited about corporate intranets. People thought corporate intranets were the thing. The analogy between an open internet which people are like no one will trust that".

According to him, it "Is the same between private blockchains and public blockchains" since public chains are accessible by anyone and need a crypto asset and, according to him, "Open accessible technologies tend to win."

He still thinks that private blockchains have their role and are important since they could permit faster and cheaper settlements and data management.

Hougan explained that private blockchains could be a solution to mortgage management.

When his interviewer changed the subject to initial coin offerings, Hougan declared that a lot of ICOs were scams and commented that "[people] are going to jail and I think they should.

Hougan also stated his hope that his firm can "Launch an ETF that gives that exposure [to crypto] to everyone and makes it safe cheap and easy to gain exposure to in the market."

In January, Bitwise had filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission to launch a physically held Bitcoin ETF. As Cointelegraph recently reported, the Chicago Board Options Exchange, along with investment firm VanEck and financial services company SolidX, has now re-applied with the SEC for a rule change to list a Bitcoin ETF. Also, in mid-January Ed Tilly, CEO, president and chairman at CBOE, declared that there is a need for Bitcoin exchange-traded notes in order for Wall Street institutional investors to join the crypto space.