Expert reveals 3 keys to the future of money that will make you see cryptocurrencies differently.

An investment expert analyzed the historic $19.000 billion-plus crypto crash, explaining why it was just a passing "buzz" and not a catastrophe for this emerging and revolutionary market.

Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise, sees a clear reality amid the recent chaos in the crypto market: beyond the noise and the large losses, the future of money is being defined on three solid pillars. For him, it's not about getting caught up in the panic caused by events like the record liquidation of over $19.000 billion in leveraged positions that the market suffered on October 10, but rather understanding that these episodes are simply volatile movements within an ecosystem that will evolve with or without them.

The first pillar is Bitcoin, which is increasingly consolidating itself as the digital alternative to the constant depreciation of fiat currencies, such as the dollar. This cryptocurrency is emerging as a reserve of value resistant that protects against the loss of traditional purchasing power. 

The second pillar is upcoming stablecoin explosion, which aim to revolutionize the way we make global payments, bringing speed and efficiency to transactions that can now be slow and costly. Finally, the asset tokenization It transforms traditional markets: stocks, bonds, and other instruments will be traded on new digital platforms, facilitating access and making them more transparent and agile.

Although recent headlines have highlighted volatility and panic, Hougan insists that these shocks are coming from the "casino side" of the crypto sector, a noisy area, but disconnected from the evolution that drives true financial innovationThe vision he proposes is long term, with a vision unclouded by passing storms. So, beyond the noise, lies the profound change that will redefine money and assets as we know them.

The tweet that sparked the cryptocurrency storm

It all started on Friday afternoon, October 10th, a time when the traditional Wall Street markets had already closed their doors and the financial world was preparing for a quiet weekend. It was then that President Trump, through his Truth Social account, launched a tweet that would act as a trigger: a threat to impose 100% tariffs on all products imported from China. 

Trump's post, a direct response to Beijing's threats to cut off exports of rare earth metals vital to US technology, felt like a dramatic escalation in the global trade war.

In a closed stock market, traders eager to protect themselves or speculate on the news turned to the one place that never sleeps: the cryptocurrency market. The reaction was immediate and brutal. Bitcoin's price plummeted. This initial drop triggered a devastating chain reaction. Investors operating with high leverage—betting with borrowed money to multiply their potential profits by up to 100—saw their positions were automatically liquidated by the platforms to cover losses. 

Hougan explains This massive forced selling flooded the market with sell orders, pushing prices even further down in a downward spiral. In total, nearly $20.000 billion in leveraged positions were wiped out, recording the largest liquidation of its kind in history of the market. Bitcoin fell as much as 15%, but altcoins fared worse; Solana, for example, sank as much as 40% at its lowest point.

However, as quickly as the storm arrived, it dissipated. Over the weekend, the administration Trump toned down the trade war and confidence returned. By Monday morning, Bitcoin was already trading near $115.000 again, almost as if the «flash crash» would never have happened. This dizzying recovery left a question hanging in the air, one that Matt Hougan has dedicated himself to answering: Did this event really matter?

An expert's diagnosis: 3 questions to separate the signal from the noise

Hougan's answer, in this case, is a resounding "no"And this isn't a gut conclusion, but rather the result of applying a checklist designed to determine whether a market movement is a temporary blip or a sign of a deep structural crisis. To do so, it asks three fundamental questions.

The first: Did any major players in the system collapse? In times of high tension, the first concern is the health of large institutions. A hedge fund, custodian, or major market maker going bust can trigger a domino effect, undermining confidence throughout the ecosystem. 

According to Hougan, Bitwise's investigations confirmed that although there were losses, The damage was mainly contained to individual investors and speculatorsNo systemic firms collapsed. All survived to operate the next day, which was crucial to the crypto market's rapid recovery.

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The second question is: How did the underlying technology perform? An extreme volatility event is the ultimate test for blockchains. Could the networks handle the massive volume of transactions? y Did decentralized exchanges (DeFi) work as expected? In response to these questions, Hougan gives technology a "passing grade". 

Key DeFi platforms such as Uniswap, Aave and Hyperliquid operated without problems and reported no losses. While some centralized players like Binance experienced technical difficulties and had to compensate traders, overall performance was as good as or even better than what would be expected from traditional markets in a similar situation. In other words, the fundamental infrastructure of the blockchain ecosystem held up.

Finally, the third question is more of a human barometer: What does my inbox look like? Hougan explains that if your phone and email are flooded with messages from panicked professional investors, it's a sign that the fear is real and deep, and that the market will need time to heal. 

This time, the response was silence.crickets", as he describes it. There was a lot of media interest and a lot of noise on "Crypto Twitter," but institutional investors, those with a long-term vision, They largely ignored the dramaIn other words, these investors understood that it was a technical event and not a significant change in the market.

The Long-Term View: Beyond Price Volatility

The conclusion of Hougan's published analysis is that the "flash crash" will have no lasting consequences. It was a spectacular episode generated by the "casino side" of the crypto market, with overleveraged short-term traders swept away by an external shock. 

According to Hougan, Nothing has changed about the factors that drive the real and long-term value of cryptocurrencies.In fact, it underscores that the structural forces of this market remain intact: a progressively improving regulatory environment, increasing capital allocation by institutional investors, and a growing awareness that crypto technology is poised to revolutionize traditional markets.

Thus, despite the drop recorded on October 10, Bitcoin has accumulated a 21% gain so far in 2025, and the Bitwise 10 index of the largest cryptocurrencies has risen 22%. Short-term volatility may persist as market makers, more cautious after the event, withdraw liquidity, which could exaggerate price movements in the coming days.

However, as Hougan concludes, once the dust settles and the market catches its breath, attention will return to the fundamentals. The narrative will not revolve around tweets and sell-offs, but rather the technology, adoption and financial transformationWhen that happens, the bull market, driven by a solid investment thesis rather than fleeting speculation, will continue, Hougan concluded.