Bitwise CIO: AI Agents and Asset Tokenization Could Drive 50x to 100x Growth in Blockchain Transaction 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 transaction volume could potentially grow by 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 the tokenization of traditional assets and AI agents participating in trading will significantly increase on-chain activity, with the tokenized stock market alone potentially driving a 10x increase in trading volume. He noted that traditional stock markets are typically only open from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM Eastern Time on weekdays, totaling approximately 33 trading hours per week. Tokenized stocks, by contrast, can enable 24/7 trading, expanding available trading hours to 168 hours per week. If AI agents were to execute trades automatically on behalf of investors in the future, trading frequency could increase even further.

However, Hougan also acknowledged that an increase in trading hours does not necessarily mean trading volume will grow proportionally, but artificial intelligence and automated trading could become important drivers of on-chain activity expansion. Investors currently still tend to value related platforms based on the existing scale of the crypto market, overlooking the potential market expansion brought by tokenization. For example, the decentralized exchange Uniswap could one day expand its services beyond crypto assets to include traditional asset markets such as stocks, bonds, and real estate. (The Block)