Why Bitwise’s Matt Hougan Thinks Strategy’s Bitcoin Era Is Fading

Strategy’s importance to Bitcoin is likely to diminish next cycle as institutional investors emerge as the market’s dominant buyers.

Michael Saylor’s Strategy has long served as the dominant corporate force behind Bitcoin buying, but that may be changing.

Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan believes that the company will play a much smaller role in driving the crypto asset’s demand in the next market cycle.

Next Wave of BTC Buyers

In his latest market analysis, Hougan said that Strategy’s role in the Bitcoin market has changed after the company adopted a new framework for STRC, which allows it to periodically sell the crypto to fund dividend obligations. While Hougan acknowledged that he does not expect Strategy to become a major BTC seller, he did say that the company could now buy or sell the crypto depending on market conditions rather than acting as a constant source of demand.

He added that there is no mechanism forcing Strategy to sell more than a few billion dollars’ worth of Bitcoin annually, and if the crypto asset’s prices recover, the exec still expects the company to remain a net buyer. Even so, Hougan said Strategy is unlikely to carry the same market influence it did during the previous cycle.

Instead, he expects institutional investors to emerge as the dominant force behind Bitcoin accumulation. Looking at BTC’s history, Hougan said market leadership has repeatedly shifted between different groups of buyers, moving from cypherpunks to Asian investors, then US retail participants, followed by the Grayscale Investments Bitcoin Trust and later Strategy.

The Bitwise CIO now believes the next phase will be led by institutions with significantly larger pools of capital. These include global banks, asset managers, pension funds, endowments, sovereign wealth funds, and financial advisers. According to him, this transition is already underway.

For instance, Morgan Stanley has launched proprietary Bitcoin ETFs, while Wells Fargo has started adding BTC exposure to model portfolios. He also highlighted that Texas became the first US state to fund a strategic BTC reserve, while several sovereign wealth funds and sovereign banks either already hold the crypto asset or have begun evaluating allocations.

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Despite Bitcoin ETF outflows during 2026, Hougan noted that the products have attracted more than $50 billion since launching in 2024 and are now available on most major financial adviser platforms.

Strategy Slowdown May Benefit Bitcoin

A slowdown in Strategy’s Bitcoin purchases would not necessarily be bearish for the market, according to HashKey Group’s Senior Researcher Tim Sun. Speaking to CryptoPotato, Sun said that if the company is forced to slow or pause its accumulation, it would help unwind the distortion in supply and demand created by its financing-driven buying model.

Rather than relying heavily on Strategy’s purchases and ETF inflows, Bitcoin would have an opportunity to establish a stronger price floor based on genuine market demand, resulting in what Sun views as a healthier market structure.