Bitwise CIO Declares ‘Compliant ICOs’ Will Power Crypto’s Next Bull Run – Here’s Why
Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan believes that the following crypto bull run might be pushed not by Bitcoin or DeFi, however by a revival of Initial Coin Offerings, this time, beneath strict compliance and regulation.
In a word to purchasers on Tuesday, Hougan said Coinbase’s new token sale platform, launched on November 10, marks the start of a brand new period for regulated ICOs. A shift he predicts will outline the market by 2026.
“Crypto has reinvented gold by Bitcoin, {dollars} by stablecoins, and buying and selling by tokenization,: he wrote. “This week, we added a fourth class: capital formation.”
Hougan argued that Coinbase’s transfer may remedy a long-standing downside in conventional finance: restricted entry for retail traders to early-stage alternatives.
The present system, he stated, favors establishments and enterprise capital companies, leaving retail traders with fewer probabilities to take part till late in an organization’s lifecycle.
Coinbase Reopens Token Sales After Six Years, Starting With Monad token
Coinbase’s choice to reopen token gross sales for U.S. traders, the primary since 2018, exhibits a fastidiously structured comeback of the ICO mannequin.
The trade will debut one new, totally vetted crypto venture every month, starting with Monad, a layer-1 blockchain whose sale runs from November 17 to 22, providing 7.5% of its whole token provide.
Under Coinbase’s new framework, traders could have per week to submit bids in USD Coin (USDC). An algorithm will then allocate tokens, prioritizing smaller bids to advertise wider distribution.
Investors trying to promote inside 30 days of launch will obtain smaller allocations in future gross sales, a rule meant to discourage speculative flipping.
Issuers should bear strict vetting on crew credentials, token economics, and vesting schedules. Tokens might be locked for at the very least six months, and all secondary gross sales would require public disclosure.
Coinbase stated there might be no participation charges for customers, whereas issuers can pay a proportion payment on the quantity raised.
The trade stated the initiative seeks to “set a brand new normal” for transparency, correcting the excesses of the 2017–2018 ICO growth, a interval Hougan known as “a whole catastrophe.”
During that earlier wave, projects raised billions in unregulated sales, lots of which turned out to be scams or failed ventures.
The fallout prompted a regulatory crackdown by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which successfully ended the ICO period and pushed the market into a chronic downturn.
Bitwise CIO Credits SEC’s Paul Atkins for Laying Groundwork for ICO Comeback
This time, nonetheless, the situations are completely different. According to Hougan, the revival of ICOs is supported by clearer guidelines and enforcement. He credited SEC Chairman Paul Atkins for serving to form this shift.
Atkins has publicly known as for “secure harbor” frameworks that might permit compliant token gross sales to happen. His proposal, mixed with Coinbase’s self-regulated construction, may pave the best way for high-quality ICOs to flourish legally.

Hougan expects “a half-dozen or extra billion-dollar ICOs by platforms like Coinbase” by 2026, describing them as a sustainable counterpart to conventional IPOs.
Coinbase’s announcement comes amid a broader resurgence of token fundraising exercise. In September, MegaETH raised $50 million in 5 minutes by a sale hosted on Echo’s Sonar platform, attracting greater than $300 million in pledges.
Kraken and Andre Cronje’s Flying Tulip have also launched regulated ICO-style platforms this yr, additional exhibiting a market shift towards compliant public token choices.
Hougan believes crypto’s subsequent part will rebuild fundraising from the bottom up, with compliant ICOs probably changing into a multi-trillion-dollar pillar alongside Bitcoin, stablecoins, and tokenization.
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