Revenue Revolution in Crypto Sparks Valuation Reappraisal

Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan believes that cryptocurrency valuations are too low due to investors not recognizing the revenue-driven market it has become. According to Hougan, for years, the biggest criticism of crypto was that tokens generated no revenue for holders.

However, with Paul Atkins replacing Gary Gensler at the SEC and Ripple winning its landmark case in August 2025, revenue is now back on the table, and major DeFi projects are moving fast to capture it. Each project runs a similar playbook: generating real revenue and using it to permanently buy and burn their own tokens, reducing supply.

Examples of this include Hyperliquid, which generated over $800 million in revenue last year and used roughly 99% of it to buy and burn HYPE tokens. Uniswap burned 100 million UNI tokens worth roughly $590 million in December 2025 and now takes in about $100 million in annual revenue.

Hougan thinks the opportunity still exists because most investors have not noticed yet, and valuations could double or more once the revenue story reaches investors outside crypto. He compared the setup to Facebook before it turned on advertising, when bears argued users would leave if ads appeared, but ultimately, nobody left, revenue followed users, and valuations followed revenue.