Bitwise CIO Projects Multi-Trillion Dollar Stablecoin AUM

As excitement around the stablecoin sector ramps up following U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent’s statements concerning dollar-pegged digital assets, Bitwise Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Matt Hougan is calling for a massive surge in stablecoin market capitalization.

“[W]e are going to keep the U.S. the dominant reserve currency in the world, and we will use stablecoins to do that,” said Bessent.

“However big you think stablecoin AUM will get, you're probably thinking too small. So, the question becomes: What does the rest of the crypto market look like if stablecoin AUM is multiple trillions?” mulled Hougan on X.

The stablecoin sector’s market capitalization has soared since the U.S. election results on Nov. 5, rising by 33% to an all-time high of $232 billion.

In addition to overall market growth, U.S.-based Circle’s USDC has been gaining ground on the industry’s leading stablecoin, Tether’s USDT.

USDT currently commands a 62% market share of the stablecoin market compared to USDC’s 26%. Since the election, USDC’s market capitalization has grown by 68%, compared to USDT’s 19%.

While Tether has been the dominant stablecoin since its inception, if the market were to grow to multiple trillions as Hougan suggests, there may be room for a new leader to emerge. USDC appears to be working toward that goal ahead of Circle’s initial public offering (IPO), which it filed for in January 2024.

The company previously sought to go public via a SPAC merger in 2022 when it was valued at $9 billion, but the plans were mutually dissolved in December 2022, shortly after the collapse of FTX.