Ethereum Over Bitcoin? Matt Hougan Says Institutions Sometimes Start With ETH

Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan has stated that a growing number of professional investors are skipping Bitcoin and turning directly to Ethereum as their first crypto ￰0￱ has long been regarded as the entry point into digital assets, and Bitcoin is now sharing the spotlight with ￰1￱ Emerging As First Choice For Professional Investors In Ripdoteth’s update on X, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan has revealed on live that an interesting trend is ￰2￱ claims that many professional investors are bypassing Bitcoin and going directly to Ethereum, whose utility in decentralized finance, smart contracts, and Web3 applications is increasingly drawing institutional ￰3￱ reason he explains is rooted in how institutions already think about portfolio ￰4￱ Reading: You Know Bitmine Has Been Buying Ethereum, But Can You Believe How Much ETH The Company Now Holds?

According to the expert, most professional investors don’t actually own ￰5￱ is because Gold is considered a niche asset, with perhaps only 15% to 20% of institutions holding it, while the vast majority of 80% or more invest in stocks and ￰6￱ Bitcoin is often framed as digital gold, its appeal is limited for many professionals who never allocated to gold in the first place. “A lot of people look at Bitcoin like it’s digital gold. I don’t own gold, but I do own technologies,” Hougan ￰7￱ fits naturally into the portfolios of those who already allocate to innovative ￰8￱ tokenization and stablecoins gaining traction, he expects institutional flow into ETH to continue building ￰9￱ Hits All-Time Highs As Institutions Target Long-Term Holdings While institutions see Ethereum as the exposure to the technological backbone of a digital economy, Wall Street FOMO has hit historic levels, as the US institutional appetite for ETH is reaching unprecedented ￰10￱ Reading: Bitcoin & Ethereum Whale Populations Quietly Growing, On-Chain Data Reveals Crypto trader Bull Theory has highlighted that in August 2025 alone, Ethereum Spot ETFs purchased $3.87 billion worth of ETH, driven almost entirely by professional investors chasing long-term ￰11￱ the charge is $11 trillion asset manager BlackRock, which allocated $3.38 billion worth of ETH and $707 million in Bitcoin, highlighting a clear preference for ETH over ￰12￱ wave of institutional buying pushed Ethereum to new all-time highs in August.

Importantly, the majority of these purchases are intended for long-term holdings, reducing immediate sell pressure and supporting sustained price ￰13￱ ETH closes above $4,630, it will mark the highest monthly close since the 2021 bull run. Furthermore, Ethereum’s transaction volumes surged past $320 billion on-chain, reflecting broad engagement across decentralized finance, stablecoins, and tokenized assets. Meanwhile, staking continues to attract Wall Street attention, with nearly 36 million ETH, which is 29% of the total circulating supply, now locked in staking ￰14￱ 3% staking rewards, Ethereum provides institutional investors with a steady dividend, making it more appealing for long-term ￰15￱ image from iStock, chart from ￰16￱