Three of the biggest names in institutional crypto research can’t agree on whether Bitcoin has found its floor. Matt Hougan, CIO of Bitwise, thinks that’s actually the wrong question to obsess over.
In a memo dated June 15, 2026, Hougan laid out the competing views from Galaxy Digital, NYDIG, and Standard Chartered on Bitcoin’s cycle low. Galaxy says the bottom hasn’t been reached. NYDIG thinks it might be close but probably isn’t there yet. Standard Chartered’s Geoffrey Kendrick has gone ahead and called it: roughly $59,000, representing a 53% decline from the October 2025 peak near $126,000. Three institutions, three different answers, and one CIO arguing the debate itself is a distraction.
The bull cycle consensus hiding in plain sight
All three firms, despite their disagreements on timing and price floors, converge on one point: another bull cycle is coming. Not just for Bitcoin, but for digital assets broadly.
Hougan describes the current market as going through a “rounding bottom” phase. The structural case Hougan makes rests on three pillars: sustained ETF inflows, growing corporate treasury adoption of Bitcoin, and improving on-chain metrics.
