Bitwise CIO: AI Agents and Asset Tokenization Could Drive 50x to 100x Growth in Blockchain Trading Volume

Odaily News – Bitwise Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Matt Hougan stated that the market may be significantly underestimating the scale of future blockchain trading activity. As real-world asset (RWA) tokenization and AI agents reshape financial markets, on-chain trading volume could grow by as much as 50x or even 100x in the future.

In his latest investment memo, Hougan pointed out that crypto investors currently hold three major misconceptions, one of which is underestimating the future scope of blockchain applications. He believes that bringing traditional assets on-chain and enabling AI agents to participate in trading will significantly boost on-chain activity. The tokenized stock market alone could drive a 10x increase in trading volume. He noted that traditional stock markets typically operate only from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM Eastern Time on weekdays, offering around 33 hours of trading per week. In contrast, tokenized stocks enable 24/7 trading, expanding available trading hours to 168 hours per week. Should AI agents automatically execute trades on behalf of investors in the future, trading frequency could increase even further.

However, Hougan also acknowledged that increased trading hours do not necessarily translate into proportional volume growth, but AI and automated trading could become important drivers of on-chain activity expansion. Investors are currently still valuing related platforms based on the existing scale of the crypto market, while overlooking the potential market expansion brought by tokenization. For example, the decentralized exchange Uniswap could one day extend its services beyond crypto assets to traditional asset markets such as stocks, bonds, and real estate. (The Block)