Bitwise sees Bitcoin above $100,000 before year-end, cites $1.3 million target for 2035
The U.S. government's announcement of substantial Treasury repurchases handed $BTC the catalyst Bitwise Asset Management chief investment officer Matt Hougan says the market had been waiting on for weeks. Bitcoin moved from roughly $64,000 to $80,000 in ten days on that news, and was trading at $79,518 at the time of this report. The next confirmable milestone for the setup is the Federal Reserve's rate decision on September 16.
Key takeaways
- Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan's near-term base case is that Bitcoin returns above $100,000 before the end of 2026.
- Bitwise's published long-term forecast places Bitcoin at approximately $1.3 million by 2035.
- Bitcoin rose from roughly $64,000 to $80,000 in ten days after the U.S. government announced substantial Treasury repurchases, and was trading at $79,518 at the time of the report.
- The next confirmable milestone Hougan cites is the Federal Reserve's rate decision on September 16.
- Hougan says institutions currently hold practically no crypto allocation, and even a one to ten percent shift would make the $1.3 million target comparatively easy to achieve.
The U.S. government's announcement of substantial Treasury repurchases handed $BTC the catalyst Bitwise Asset Management chief investment officer Matt Hougan says the market had been waiting on for weeks. Bitcoin moved from roughly $64,000 to $80,000 in ten days on that news, and was trading at $79,518 at the time of this report. The next confirmable milestone for the setup is the Federal Reserve's rate decision on September 16.
The macro shift behind the move
Hougan argues that crypto investors were not short on reasons to buy heading into the move. Tokenized equities, real-world asset platforms, and activity on venues like Hyperliquid all offered positives. What was missing was a trigger from Washington. The Treasury repurchase announcement provided that, and capital returned quickly.
The portfolio mechanics behind that rotation matter to the setup. Hougan describes a shift in how some institutional investors are thinking about duration risk. Rather than holding ten-year Treasuries inside a traditional 60/40 portfolio, he says investors are shortening to three-month bills and replacing the lost risk budget with a Bitcoin allocation. The 60/40 structure, as he frames it, is fully dependent on the fiat system. Bitcoin sits outside that dependency.
The numbers and what they carry
Hougan's near-term base case: Bitcoin returns above $100,000 before the end of 2026. He sees Wall Street returning from the August break and facing a macro environment that, if it cooperates, makes the case for fresh allocation straightforward.
Further out, Bitwise's published long-term forecast places Bitcoin at approximately $1.3 million by 2035. Hougan described that target as "comparatively easy to achieve" if institutions, which he says currently hold practically no crypto allocation, move even one to ten percent of their capital into the asset class. Current estimates put roughly 4% of the global population as Bitcoin owners. Veteran investor Cathie Wood holds a separate long-term price target of $1.5 million for the coin.
What to watch
Hougan is explicit that the move will not travel in a straight line. He expects consolidation that could extend into October before a clearer trend re-establishes itself. Beyond September 16, monetary policy decisions in Japan and Europe will shape liquidity conditions alongside the Fed. Geopolitical factors, including uncertainty around Iran and NATO tensions, have made markets sensitive enough that even modest positive macro signals could produce sharp reactions in either direction.
On the institutional side, Hougan points to mid-September as the window when large asset managers, pension funds, banks, and other professional investors are expected to finalize allocation plans for the remainder of the year. That calendar matters. Even small shifts in institutional allocation percentages represent enormous capital flows at the scale of those pools, and per Hougan, those flows have barely touched Bitcoin so far.
Related reading
Filed by the digital assets desk of MarketPR on September 7, 2026. Source: finance.yahoo.com. Indicative figures are not investment advice.