Ethereum Soars 37%—Bitwise CIO Says It’s Time to Ditch Bitcoin Maximalism

ETH’s explosive rally leaves BTC in the dust—again. Here’s why smart money’s rotating into altcoins.

Bitwise’s chief investment officer drops the truth bomb: ’Crypto winter’ was just a Bitcoin hodler coping mechanism. Meanwhile, Ethereum’s defi ecosystem keeps printing real yield while maximalists argue about ’digital gold.’

Pro tip: The next 100x gem won’t be found in a 2013 playbook. (But keep stacking those satoshis if it makes you feel safe.)

Go beyond BTC, says Hougan  

To capitalize on such an opportunity, Hougan urged investors to go beyond BTC. 

“Bitcoin is the king of crypto assets—the largest, most liquid, and most established. And yet I think most investors should own other crypto assets.” 

He referenced the early internet boom in 2004, where Google dominated the search market.

But the internet was the general purpose LAYER (tech) supporting several verticals and segments like social media, retail, video, B2B software etc. 

In fact, as of 2025, Google did well, but other leaders in key verticals like Netflix performed exceptionally well, something that wasn’t obvious in 2004, added Hougan.

Source: Bitwise

Hougan believed that a similar scenario could play out for blockchains, which he equated to general-purpose tech like the internet. 

“You can use a blockchain to create a better FORM of money (Bitcoin) or to create a programmable network for transferring “real-world assets” (Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche).” 

He added that each network may offer different returns over time. 

“If, for instance, you’re intrigued by the idea of nearly all the world’s assets moving onchain—history suggests you’d want to own a basket of crypto assets: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Chainlink, and more.”

Source: Bitwise

The diversified crypto portfolio is the idea behind crypto index ETFs. In fact, from a traditional perspective, Hougan noted that individual equity funds have lagged behind indices. 

“Over the past 20 years, actively managed U.S. equity funds have underperformed their benchmark indexes 97% of the time.”

Interestingly, Google Finance data, on the lower 5-day timeframe, supported his thesis. 

Source: Google Finance (Performance as of 14th May, 6:54 UTC)

Compared to other crypto indices like Bitwise Crypto 10, Hashdex Crypto Index and S&P Crypto MegaCap Futures, BTC rallied less than 1%. But the crypto indices and ETH surged 13% over the same period. 

Simply put, BTC investors could have gained an extra 13% or more if they were diversified to other crypto assets via ETFs or directly.