Matt Hougan, CIO of Bitwise, joins Bankless for this week's State of the Nation! Founded in 2017, Bitwise Asset Management pioneered the first cryptocurrency index fund and provides rules-based exposure to the cryptoasset space. Learn about Bitwise's newest product, their DeFi Crypto Index Fund. ------ 🚀 SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/  🎙️ SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST: http://podcast.banklesshq.com/  ------ GO BANKLESS WITH THESE SPONSOR TOOLS: ⭐️ AAVE - BORROW OR LEND YOUR ASSETS https://bankless.cc/aave  🚀 GEMINI - MOST TRUSTED EXCHANGE AND ONRAMP https://bankless.cc/go-gemini  💳 MONOLITH - GET THE HOLY GRAIL OF BANKLESS VISA CARDS https://bankless.cc/monolith  📈 KWENTA - DERIVATIVES TRADING WITH INFINITE LIQUIDITY https://bankless.cc/kwenta​  ------ SotN #36: Bitwise DeFi Crypto Index | CIO Matt Hougan Bitwise is connecting DeFi assets to the world of ‘big money.’ Matt Hougan is CIO (Chief Investment Officer) of Bitwise, and before moving into the crypto space, he pioneered the ETF investment vehicles in the world of traditional finance. Matt, with his dog by his side, posits that there are three ‘buckets’ of wealth in America where capital is pooled. The first is ‘Self-Directed Retail Investors,’ who has bootstrapped crypto from the ground up. The second is ‘Institutional Investors,’ including Venture Capital Firms, Endowments, Foundations, and other large funds. The third – and most neglected – is capital under the ‘Financial Advisor’ umbrella. This is where the 1%-er money is, and this bucket is just now gaining access to the crypto space. The Financial Advisor bucket holds $30-$40 Trillion in assets, and the minds in this space are changing as crypto is increasingly legitimized through improving infrastructure and the strong recovery from the 2017 cycle. Building efficient vehicles to bridge this wealth into crypto is critical for large-scale adoption. This is where Bitwise comes in. Bitwise manages around $1 Billion in assets and created the first Crypto Index Fund, offering a variety of products to retail investors, accredited investors, and financial advisors. Most recently, Bitwise launched its DeFi Crypto Index Fund, exposing financial advisors to the world of DeFi. Analogues to Legacy Finance like Price-to-Earnings Ratios and Cash Flows make DeFi compelling and understandable, but DeFi is showing itself to be “cheaper, more efficient, more open, more transparent, [and] more verifiable.” ------ RELEVANT LINKS: Matt on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Matt_Hougan?s=20  Bitwise: https://www.bitwiseinvestments.com/  Matt's CFA Report on Cryptoassets: https://www.cfainstitute.org/-/media/documents/article/rf-brief/rfbr-cryptoassets.ashx  Makerburn https://makerburn.com/#/  ------ 📣REGISTER FOR COINDESK CONSENSUS 2021 AND SAVE $20 W/ BANKLESS http://bankless.cc/consensus2021  ------ CATCH UP ON BANKLESS: 🗞️ Weekly Rollup (2/26): https://shows.banklesshq.com/p/-rollup-big-dip-nft-culture-coinbase  🧢 Weekly Action Recap (2/28): https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/weekly-action-recap-f41  📈 Market Monday (3/1): https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/  🎙️ Podcast with Mark Cuban (3/1): https://shows.banklesshq.com/p/-why-defi-is-the-future-mark-cuban  🐦 Follow Bankless on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BanklessHQ  ----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research. Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/bankless-disclosures 

🚀 SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER: http://bankless.substack.com/  🎙️ SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST: http://podcast.banklesshq.com/  ----- 💪BECOME A BANKLESS PREMIUM MEMBER: http://bankless.cc/membership  🔒Subscribe before March 1 to lock in $12/month for life! ----- GO BANKLESS WITH THESE SPONSOR TOOLS: ⭐️ AAVE - BORROW OR LEND YOUR ASSETS https://bankless.cc/aave  🚀 GEMINI - MOST TRUSTED EXCHANGE AND ONRAMP https://bankless.cc/go-gemini  💳 MONOLITH - GET THE HOLY GRAIL OF BANKLESS VISA CARDS https://bankless.cc/monolith  📱 DHARMA - MOBILE ONRAMP DIRECTLY INTO DEFI https://bankless.cc/dharma  ------ 📣LATTICE - NEXT GENERATION OF HARDWARE WALLETS https://bankless.cc/gridplus​  ------ MARKETS BTC Price $50k - Dip after breaking $58k ETH Price Broke $2k - Hanging in mid-$1600s with Dip TVL in DeFi Peaked at $43B - Now at $35B $DPI - $370 Biggest Day Ever for DEX Volume https://twitter.com/duneanalytics/status/1364473902177677313?s=21  DeFi Pulse Releases New Cryptodollars Page https://twitter.com/defipulse/status/1364310453959200780?s=20  Retail Isn’t Here Yet https://twitter.com/lawmaster/status/1364941277129768964?s=20  ------ RELEASES Optimism dope hires https://twitter.com/optimismPBC/status/1364705156705579009  Andreessen Horowitz on Optimistic Rollups https://a16z.com/2021/02/24/investing-in-optimism/  Dydx Layer 2 w/ ZK-Rollup https://dydx.exchange/blog/alpha  Chainlink Saving Massively on Gas https://decrypt.co/59244/chainlinks-latest-upgrade-a-rapid-evolution-for-defi-ceo-sergey-nazarov  Balancer Aave Partnership https://medium.com/balancer-protocol/balancer-partners-with-aave-to-build-the-first-v2-asset-manager-d9c173330151  Zapper NFT Dashboard https://twitter.com/DeFi_Dad/status/1364308685753843726?s=20  Alchemix https://twitter.com/AlchemixFi/status/1363658484303097858  Tim Beiko proposal for EIP1559 inclusion in London ETH 1 hard fork https://github.com/ethereum/pm/issues/254  ------ NEWS Fedwire goes down https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/24/the-feds-system-that-allows-banks-to-send-money-back-and-forth-is-down.html  Coinbase Files To Go Public https://twitter.com/lawmaster/status/1364918649425973249?s=20  Nyan Cat NFT sells for 300ETH https://foundation.app/NyanCat/nyan-cat-219  Alpha / Cream Repaying Funds https://blog.alphafinance.io/joint-announcement-on-funds-repayment/  South Korea Bans Privacy Coins from Crypto Banks https://news.bitcoin.com/south-korean-financial-regulator-confirms-privacy-coin-delistings-adds-new-guidelines-to-report-unusual-transactions  Square Buys $170mm BTC https://twitter.com/DeItaone/status/1364319316750061570  MicroStrategy Buys $1.026B BTC https://www.coindesk.com/microstrategy-buys-billion-dollars-bitcoin  Tether & Bitfinex New York Settlement - $18.5mm https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/95207/bitfinex-tether-new-york-ag-settlement-lawsuit  Brave Wallet + DEX Aggregator - Doubling down https://twitter.com/brave/status/1364296807614930948?s=20  SoRare Professional Soccer (football) NFT Platform https://sorare.com/  ------ TAKES Michael Burry (Big Short) On Inflation https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/big-short-michael-burry-warns-inflation-bitcoin-gold-hedge-risk-2021-2-1030102452  NFT Inflection Point https://twitter.com/jbrukh/status/1364785907379941377?s=20  Emotional Robbery by Web2 platforms https://twitter.com/TrustlessState/status/1364786359932575745?s=20  Current Prices are the bottom of next Bear Cycle https://twitter.com/cburniske/status/1363189837675646977?s=20  Ethereum the Employer https://twitter.com/TrustlessState/status/1364603328601022467?s=20  Ryan's Jaded About Delegated POS https://twitter.com/ryansadams/status/1364789743054159876?s=21  ------ MEME L2 Implementers Assemble https://twitter.com/Crypt0xWife/status/1364044469323128833?s=20  I am Groot https://twitter.com/Crypt0xWife/status/1363325351724806145?s=20  ------ Don't stop at the video! Subscribe to the Bankless newsletter program http://bankless.substack.com/  Visit the official Bankless website http://banklesshq.com/  Follow Bankless on Twitter https://twitter.com/BanklessHQ  Follow Ryan on Twitter https://twitter.com/ryansadams  Follow David on Twitter https://twitter.com/TrustlessState  ----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research. Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/bankless-disclosures