Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan names Hyperliquid, Uniswap, Aave, Pumpfun, and Lighter as revenue-generating projects with significant long-term growth potential comparable to early internet giants.
DeFi & Yields ·
Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise, contends that several crypto projects including Hyperliquid, Uniswap, Aave, and others are generating substantial revenue and returning it to token holders, a shift he sees as underappreciated by the market. Hyperliquid generated over $800 million in revenue last year and uses approximately 99% of it for token buybacks, while Uniswap, Aave, and Solana are adopting similar approaches. Hougan frames this transition as fundamental: crypto asset valuations are increasingly tied to revenue metrics, comparable to how stocks and bonds are valued, rather than speculation about technological adoption alone.
The move toward revenue-generating models reflects a regulatory shift. For years, the SEC treated crypto projects that distributed revenue to token holders as illegal securities offerings, pushing most to launch as governance tokens instead. The legal landscape changed after the SEC's loss in its case against Ripple in 2023 and 2025, followed by Paul Atkins replacing Gary Gensler as SEC chair with a more favorable stance toward crypto regulation.
Hougan's assertion rests on the claim that current token prices do not yet reflect this revenue reality, suggesting significant upside potential. However, the comparison to early internet company stocks remains illustrative rather than quantified, and whether the broader market will adopt revenue-based valuation models for crypto assets at the pace Hougan suggests remains to be seen.