Bitwise CIO Sees ‘Crypto Spring’ in Q3 Market Rebound
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| Currency | Price | Change | | --- | --- | --- | | DOGE | $0.08011 | 5.91% | | TRX | $0.3325 | 0.09% | | LINK | $12.08 | 7.03% | | ZEC | $1,100.26 | 12.21% | | ADA | $0.2216 | 6.25% | | XRP | $1.30 | 4.98% | | ETH | $2,367.10 | 5.96% | | BTC | $81,226.29 | 3.04% | | XMR | $544.71 | 1.40% | | BNB | $720.53 | 3.27% | | XLM | $0.1798 | 5.79% | | SOL | $102.80 | 4.76% | | HYPE | $80.01 | 2.49% |
Written by:
- Felix Ng, staff editor
- Yohan Yun, staff editor
Bitwise’s Hougan says Q3 charts point to ‘crypto spring’
Markets
Published: October 14, 2026
Bitwise’s Matt Hougan observed that nearly every fundamental indicator his team tracks showed a sharp increase in Q3. He suggests that this significant rebound in crypto prices and growing on-chain markets indicate the beginning of a "crypto spring."
In its Quarterly Market Review published Thursday, Bitwise reported a 46.4% quarterly gain in its large-cap crypto index, alongside $6 billion in US spot Bitcoin ETF inflows that reversed year-to-date net flows into positive territory.
This growth extended beyond cryptocurrency prices, with tokenized equities rising 65.5% to nearly $3.2 billion, and open interest on decentralized perpetual futures hitting a new record near $26 billion, with an increasing share tied to stocks, commodities, foreign exchange, and pre-IPO shares.
"Page after page after page, it’s all the same: The most recent part of the chart is turning sharply upwards,” Hougan wrote. “That’s exactly what you want to see if you’re looking for the start of a crypto spring."
While crypto analysts debate whether the market slump is finally over, Hougan points to ETF flows and on-chain activity as potential signs of recovery.
Q3 Performance
- Bitcoin (BTC) gained 42.3%
- Ether (ETH) and Solana (SOL) rose 69.1% and 59.2%, respectively
- All 10 constituents of Bitwise’s large-cap crypto index posted double-digit quarterly gains, with Chainlink (LINK) leading the pack at 97.6%
Not All Industries Rebounded
However, not all segments of the industry experienced a rebound. Mining companies Riot Platforms and Hut 8 saw their shares drop 26.4% and 25.4%, respectively, during Q3, while Galaxy Digital dropped 16.8%.
Tokenization and Perpetual Futures
Bitwise expects the SEC’s innovation exemption to bring billions more tokenized assets into blockchains, and predicts that the growing perpetual futures market will accelerate after more than $6 trillion was traded year-to-date across venues like Hyperliquid and Lighter, a 42% increase from the same period last year.