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Bitwise’s Hougan says Q3 charts point to ‘crypto spring’
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Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan declared that the third quarter of 2025 may have been "one of the best quarters in crypto's history," pointing to a broad rebound in prices and onchain activity as the opening of what he called a "crypto spring." In the firm's quarterly market review published Thursday, Bitwise reported a 46.4% gain in its large-cap crypto index and $6 billion in inflows to US spot Bitcoin ETFs, a haul that pushed year-to-date net flows back into positive territory. Hougan argued that nearly every fundamental indicator the asset manager tracks spiked sharply higher during the period.
The recovery marked a dramatic reversal from conditions just three months earlier. "Three months ago, crypto was in the depths of despair," Hougan wrote. "Prices, onchain activity, ETF flows—everything was down." He added that the pattern repeats across the firm's data: "Page after page after page, it's all the same: The most recent part of the chart is turning sharply upwards." Hougan said that trajectory is "exactly what you want to see if you're looking for the start of a crypto spring."
Gains were spread across major digital assets. Bitcoin rose 42.3% in Q3, while Ether climbed 69.1% and Solana advanced 59.2%. All 10 constituents of the Bitwise 10 Large Cap Crypto Index posted double-digit quarterly returns, led by Chainlink, which surged 97.6%. Growth extended well beyond spot prices: the value of tokenized equities jumped 65.5% to nearly $3.2 billion, and open interest on decentralized perpetual futures hit a record near $26 billion, with a rising share tied to stocks, commodities, foreign exchange and pre-IPO shares.
The rebound was not universal. Shares of Bitcoin miners Riot Platforms and Hut 8 fell 26.4% and 25.4% respectively during the quarter, while Galaxy Digital dropped 16.8%. The number of public companies holding Bitcoin declined almost 6% to 173, even as their combined holdings edged up 0.5%. The count of public firms holding Ether slipped to 35 from 40, though their aggregate holdings increased. Despite the quarterly rally, Bitwise's large-cap index remained down 6.2% for the year through September.
The results feed an ongoing debate over whether the prolonged slump has ended. CryptoQuant said in September that technical and onchain indicators confirmed a new Bitcoin bull market, while Bitget chief analyst Ryan Lee told Cointelegraph that additional indicators were needed to confirm a cycle bottom. Hougan pointed to ETF flows and onchain activity as further evidence of a potential recovery.
Looking ahead, Bitwise said it expects the SEC's innovation exemption to draw billions more dollars of tokenized assets onto blockchains. "We believe Q4 moves tokenization from pilots to production," the firm wrote, naming Ethereum, Solana and NEAR among the likely beneficiaries. Bitwise also projected that the perpetual futures market will accelerate after more than $6 trillion traded year-to-date across venues such as Hyperliquid and Lighter, up 42% from a year earlier. "With regulatory support expected this quarter, we project the growing perp market to accelerate as US investors start to arrive," it said.
