Cryptoassets Shift towards Revenue-Driven Valuations, Bitwise Forecasts

Bitwise's CIO Matt Hougan believes that the cryptocurrency market is shifting towards a new paradigm where revenue generation plays a significant role in determining asset value. According to Hougan, investors are underestimating tokens from projects that can generate revenue through fees and economic activity.

'That era is over,' said Hougan. 'Now we are at a stage where, outside of Bitcoin, the value of cryptoassets will increasingly be defined by the same metric that defines stocks and bonds: revenue.'

He highlighted several projects that have successfully generated significant revenue through token burns and buybacks. For instance, Hyperliquid generated over $800 million in revenue last year, with 99% of its fees used to buy back and burn HYPE tokens.

Hougan also mentioned Uniswap, which has an annual revenue of around $100 million, and Aave, aiming for approximately $30 million in annual AAVE burns. Additionally, Pump.fun recorded over $328 million in revenue and burned the equivalent of $370 million in PUMP tokens by April 2026.

The trend is not limited to DeFi protocols, with layer 1 blockchains such as Solana and Aptos also witnessing an increase in revenue generation through token burning. Hougan estimates that this shift could lead to valuations doubling or more over the next 12-24 months.