Bitwise: Has Bitcoin Bottomed Or Is The Worst Still Ahead?

**Ryan Rasmussen** (0:00)
And if you zoom out 10 years from now, the long-term drivers behind Bitcoin are not, is strategy gonna buy or sell Bitcoin? There will governments continue to debase currencies? Will this debt issue, which people seem to not talk about as much now as they did last year, but still is very real, will this debt issue continue to exist 10 years from now? Will there be demand for fixed supply, hard assets like gold, like Bitcoin?

**LGDU Set** (0:31)
What's up, everybody? It's LGDU Set here, and welcome to The Milk Road Show, the daily crypto show that's starting to feel like the crypto market is a big gray whale relentlessly trying to beach itself. Today is June 24th, 2026 We can't stop talking about the bottom for Bitcoin, and it's even more relevant on a day like today when it's teetering on that 60K line yet again. But our guests today share a different perspective. That's that although there are diverging opinions on where it finally lands, that everyone, literally everyone in the industry agrees its long-term trajectory is up. We'll talk about all that, plus a dive into crypto equities and tokenization on Solana with Matt and Ryan from Bitwise. Today's episode is brought to you by BitGet, Stocks 2 with real liquidity, real dividends, and Nexo, earn interest, borrow and trade crypto.
Matt, Ryan, welcome back, guys.

**Matt Hougan** (1:19)
It's great to be here. Love it.

**LGDU Set** (1:21)
Okay, so if you're a gray whale right now, what are you trying to do if you're the crypto market?

**Ryan Rasmussen** (1:29)
I'm trying to get ashore and end the suffering. Yeah, crawl my way to the Federal Reserve and tell them to cut rates.

**LGDU Set** (1:42)
Ryan, is that really what you think would save the market at this point? You just need certainty on rates. Is that really what you think is hanging over all this?

**Ryan Rasmussen** (1:50)
I think it's a really big factor, particularly for crypto and would love to get into it. Do you think that's a really big factor?

**Matt Hougan** (2:00)
I may take partly the other side on that. I know there's a big Kevin Warsh freak out about how he killed the debasement trade. I think that's true from a short-term perspective, but I don't think interest rates really matter that much at all. I actually think it's a god that we're worshiping from prior cycles, and I don't think that's the driver. I think it's the four-year cycle that's still in charge, and I think we're going to be just fine.

**LGDU Set** (2:27)
Man, you think it's okay.
Matt, I've asked you this like a hundred times, but what would invalidate the four-year cycle at this point? Because I agree with you, it isn't charge and if you see a bottom in Q3, then that's it, right? That's that we continue to believe that. Is that even possible at this point? Is that still what you think is going to happen?

**Matt Hougan** (2:47)
Q3, Q4. I mean, if Bitcoin doesn't go up next year, I think you have to believe it's in force until it's no longer in force.
It appears to be in force. There's a reason to believe we're moving through the liquidity cycles, etc. I think we'll get out to the other side. Specifically, interest rates, the reason I think it's a god is we're talking about tinkering with interest rates. 25 basis points up, 25 basis points down.
Who cares? I've said it on the show before. We've been used to this cycle of interest rates that swing from 5 percent to to 5 percent to That's what we've had since Bitcoin was created. I think what we're talking about now is interest rates that hover around here for the foreseeable future. That's why I don't think it's actually as important. We've just been taught it's important. I actually think Fed balance sheet and Treasury balance sheet are more important than interest rates specifically. But Ryan may take the other side. He may well be right.

**Ryan Rasmussen** (3:47)
Yeah, well, no, I think I am right for the record there.
But no, I was just looking at a look. There's definitely some truth to that. I think that in expectations around the direction of interest rates is something that investors think about, particularly younger investors who are debating where to allocate capital. Perhaps they are trying to save up money to buy a house and trying to decide to buy a house now, to buy a house later. What should I invest in? All of this, I think, is part of this capital rotation and what sucked liquidity and euphoria out of crypto. It's not the only factor, but I think it's part of it. I was just looking at a historical chart of interest rate expectations heading into 2026