Shifting Value Dynamics in the Crypto Market
Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan suggests that several major cryptocurrency tokens are becoming significantly better at capturing value for their holders. He believes this shift may be overlooked by the market amidst the current pullback. Hougan highlighted three specific examples: Uniswap (UNI), Ethereum (ETH), and XRP.
Uniswap (UNI): From Governance to Value Capture
Hougan identified UNI as the clearest illustration of this trend. Historically, UNI's primary criticism was its function solely as a governance token, meaning that despite Uniswap's status as a leading decentralized exchange, its activity did not directly benefit UNI holders. This situation may be changing. The community is currently reviewing a proposal for a feature known as the "fee switch." If approved, approximately 16% of trading fees generated on the platform would be utilized to burn UNI tokens. Hougan anticipates that this mechanism could elevate UNI to a top-tier market position over time.
1/ One source of alpha is recognizing big news that gets lost in the shuffle. In the chaos of the current market pullback, a lot is getting lost in the shuffle.
One example: Tokens are getting much better at capturing value. I’ll cover three examples: UNI, ETH, and XRP.
— Matt Hougan (@Matt_Hougan) November 22, 2025
2/ UNI is the most obvious. The big knock on UNI has always been that it is a governance token. Uniswap is great, but activity on Uniswap didn’t benefit UNI token holders.
— Matt Hougan (@Matt_Hougan) November 22, 2025
Ethereum (ETH): Fusaka Upgrade Poised to Boost Revenue
Hougan also pointed to Ethereum, noting that its upcoming Fusaka upgrade, scheduled for December, is expected to enhance its value capture capabilities. This update will introduce a minimum fee for Layer-2 networks that submit data to the Ethereum mainnet. Research indicates that this change, in conjunction with other modifications, could potentially increase Ethereum's revenue by five to ten times. Hougan predicts that the market will give more attention to this development once the upgrade is live, calling it an underappreciated catalyst that could support Ethereum during the next market upswing.
5/ Among other things, Fusaka introduces a minimum fee for recording data from Layer 2s. @DigitalAssets wrote a great report on this. Together with other important changes, this could 5-10X revenue capture by the blockchain.
— Matt Hougan (@Matt_Hougan) November 22, 2025
XRP: Exploring New Economic Models
The final example discussed by Hougan was XRP, where the community is actively exploring novel approaches to enhance token utility. Hougan observed a growing interest in concepts such as staking. If implemented, these new economic models would significantly alter the flow of value to XRP holders and reshape the token's long-term economic structure.
A Sector-Wide Trend in Value Capture
Hougan emphasized that a unifying theme across UNI, ETH, and XRP is the rising value capture across the broader cryptocurrency sector. He explained that many tokens were initially designed with limited economic features due to regulatory uncertainties. As regulatory landscapes evolve, Hougan anticipates that projects will begin to experience the impact of stronger value capture mechanisms, with this trend potentially gaining significant momentum starting in 2026.