Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley Says Bitcoin (BTC) Winter Is Over, Sees Record High in 2027

Horsley: The Sellers Are Already Out

Bitwise chief executive Hunter Horsley called time on the crypto winter during a CNBC interview on the sidelines of TOKEN2049, arguing that the bear market which began late last year has already pushed many of its sellers out. What remains is substance, in his telling: usage and revenue figures across several crypto platforms are climbing, institutional players have started building positions in the sector, and access through ETF wrappers, both exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and exchange-traded products (ETPs), has never been wider. He framed that mix of tired sellers, stronger fundamentals and broad access as the setup for a fresh bull market rather than a lingering bear phase. “I think the crypto winter is over,” he said, adding that the substance in the space “has grown tremendously” across 2026 and that many investors are optimistic about the outlook. His pitch to allocators rests on simple cycle mechanics: forced and frustrated sellers clear out during drawdowns, leaving the market to stronger hands before the next leg higher. On Bitcoin (BTC), a fresh all-time high next year, in 2027, would not catch him off guard, and it could arrive earlier than most expect. He was quick to separate the call from Bitwise’s house view, deferring official forecasts to Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan. He also hopes prices do not run too fast, describing the current window as a sweet spot where institutions and wealth managers can build exposure at a measured pace. Bitcoin price sits near $83,100 at the time of writing, roughly 2.4% lower over the past 24 hours and roughly 34% short of the $126,080 all-time high from October 6, 2025. One macro overhang persists: markets are weighing another Federal Reserve hike before year-end, after the central bank’s own release confirms a 25 basis point increase on September 16, its first since 2023.

Lubin Dates the Thaw Earlier

MetaMask chief executive Joseph Lubin, an Ethereum co-founder, set a looser clock in his own CNBC conversation at the same conference. The winter, he said, has actually been over “for quite a while,” with the timing depending on your perspective. His case rests on institutional adoption rather than charts. Where Horsley points to supply, Lubin points to what is being built. Lubin pointed to growing recognition of Ethereum (ETH) as a credibly neutral, censorship-resistant settlement layer, the base network where final value transfers land without a central intermediary, a property institutions weigh heavily when they choose rails. He argued the network has already won its category as the smart contract platform for the next-generation economy. In his reading, the steady spread of stablecoins and real-world assets shows digital assets moving into the plumbing of decentralized finance (DeFi), which makes the recovery an adoption story rather than a sentiment swing. He presented those flows as already visible in the data, not as a forecast. That framing brushes aside the bearish narrative, the kind of FUD that has trailed the market since its late-2025 peak; ETH trades near $2,573 at the time of writing. Policy formed the second point of agreement between the two executives. Both addressed the Clarity Act, the market-structure bill pitched as the framework separating digital-asset securities from commodities oversight, whose failure to advance through the Senate many in the industry read as a significant setback. Horsley pushed back on that worry in his own remarks, saying he sees no partners or clients waiting on the legislation before they engage. Lubin expects the answer from regulators instead: he anticipates the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will deliver clarity through rulemaking and no-action letters.

The two calls agree on the destination and disagree on the clock. Horsley dates the turn to seller exhaustion inside a bear phase that began late last year; Lubin anchors it in institutional adoption of settlement rails, which he argues happened much earlier. For allocators, the actionable overlap sits with regulators: neither executive sees clients waiting on the Clarity Act, and both expect the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to set the terms through rulemaking and no-action letters. Horsley’s sweet spot also assumes institutions can build positions before retail FOMO returns and reprices the market; with Bitcoin (BTC) roughly 34% short of its $126,080 record from October 2025, that window is still open. The open question is whether long-term holders who tend to HODL through drawdowns absorb renewed supply if prices do run, particularly with another Fed hike still possible this quarter.