{"id":93611,"date":"2026-01-27T16:26:50","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T13:26:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=93611"},"modified":"2026-01-27T16:30:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T13:30:25","slug":"bitwise-cio-identifies-gold-surge-and-clarity-acts-fate-as-key-crypto-market-drivers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/bitwise-cio-identifies-gold-surge-and-clarity-acts-fate-as-key-crypto-market-drivers\/","title":{"rendered":"Bitwise CIO Identifies Gold Surge and Clarity Act&#8217;s Fate as Key Crypto Market Drivers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The current state and future of the crypto industry are being shaped by the rapid rise in gold prices and the uncertainty surrounding the Clarity Act. This perspective was <a href=\"https:\/\/experts.bitwiseinvestments.com\/cio-memos\/gold-rising-clarity-in-suspense\">shared<\/a> by Bitwise&#8217;s Chief Investment Officer, Matt Hougan.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Gold&#8217;s Ascent and Institutional Trust Crisis<\/h2>\n<p>In 2025, the precious metal appreciated by 65%. Since the beginning of 2026, its price has increased by another 16%, <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/bitcoin-falls-to-86000-amid-shutdown-threat-gold-surpasses-5000\">exceeding $5000<\/a> per ounce.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/img-ea896ff3a842e4e8-4736563173584346.webp\" alt=\"image\" class=\"wp-image-274090\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Source: Bitwise.\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>According to the expert, this trend &#8220;demonstrates a profound shift.&#8221; He described it as a reaction to years of monetary expansion, rising national debt, and a global crisis of trust in centralised institutions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Hougan identified the key driver of the rally as the massive gold purchases by central banks following the freezing of Russia&#8217;s reserves in 2022. This prompted countries to reconsider storing assets in jurisdictions that could confiscate them.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>&#8220;The trend is gaining momentum. Last week, German economists urged their government to withdraw gold stored at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and &#8216;repatriate&#8217; it to Germany. They no longer trust the US to safeguard their reserves,&#8221; he noted.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Herein lies the fundamental value of cryptocurrencies, which are resistant to censorship and do not require intermediaries, according to the Bitwise CIO.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Uncertainty Surrounding the Clarity Act<\/h2>\n<p>The second critical factor is the fate of the Clarity Act, which aims to allocate regulatory authority over the crypto market between the <span data-descr=\"U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission\" class=\"old_tooltip\">SEC<\/span> and the <span data-descr=\"U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission\" class=\"old_tooltip\">CFTC<\/span>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Currently, prediction markets have reduced the probability of the document&#8217;s passage from 80% to 50%.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/img-499e47878dbe2316-4736593064239384.webp\" alt=\"image\" class=\"wp-image-274091\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/polymarket.com\/event\/clarity-act-signed-into-law-in-2026\">Polymarket<\/a>.\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The decline followed criticism from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, who <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/bank-of-america-chief-warns-up-to-6trn-could-flee-banks-into-stablecoins\">opposed<\/a> the current version of the bill due to its ban on <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/scaramucci-criticizes-us-banks-for-undermining-stablecoins-in-favour-of-china\">yield payments on stablecoins<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Hougan outlined two scenarios:<\/p>\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Passage<\/strong>. A sharp rally effect, as investors begin to factor in the guaranteed growth of <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/what-are-stablecoins\">stablecoins<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/what-are-tokenised-assets\">tokenisation<\/a> into current prices.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Failure<\/strong>. The industry will have about three years to make cryptocurrencies an integral part of everyday life and traditional finance. Success will force regulators to adapt. Failure will leave the sector vulnerable to abrupt policy shifts.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>&#8220;I remain optimistic about the passage of Clarity. So far, this administration has fulfilled its campaign promises to the crypto industry, and the Clarity Act is one of them. But if it is not passed, I believe we need to prepare for a slower ascent,&#8221; the expert concluded.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Earlier, Bitwise <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/bitwise-declares-end-of-bear-market\">announced<\/a> the end of the bear market.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The current state and future of the crypto industry are shaped by the rapid rise in gold prices and uncertainty over the Clarity Act, says Matt Hougan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":93612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"1","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"Gold's rise and Clarity Act's fate shape crypto market, says Bitwise CIO.","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"157","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"Gold's rise and Clarity Act's fate shape crypto market, says Bitwise CIO.","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93611"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93613,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93611\/revisions\/93613"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}