{"id":73584,"date":"2026-02-23T15:16:44","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T15:16:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=73584"},"modified":"2026-02-23T15:16:44","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T15:16:44","slug":"bitcoins-45-collapse-doesnt-mean-it-failed-bitwises-matt-hougan-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=73584","title":{"rendered":"Bitcoin&#8217;s 45% Collapse Doesn&#8217;t Mean It Failed, Bitwise&#8217;s Matt Hougan Says"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><strong>Bitcoin<\/strong> <a class=\"ticker-link\" data-ticker=\"BTC\" data-exchange=\"CRYPTO\" href=\"https:\/\/www.benzinga.com\/quote\/BTC-USD\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">(CRYPTO: <\/a><a class=\"ticker\" href=\"https:\/\/www.benzinga.com\/quote\/btc\/usd\">BTC<\/a>) is seeing a debate over its true identity, with <strong>Bitwise<\/strong> Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan argueing that critics are missing the bigger picture.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Bitcoin&#8217;s \u2018Identity Crisis&#8217;<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Bitcoin has fallen more than 40% from its peak amid broader market uncertainty and geopolitical tensions, with no clear catalyst driving crypto prices higher.<\/p>\n<p>The debate now centers less on price and more on purpose. If Bitcoin is not clearly the best hedge, payment system or speculative vehicle, what exactly is it?<\/p>\n<p>A report by <strong>Bloomberg<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2026-02-21\/bitcoin-s-1-trillion-identity-crisis-hits-from-every-direction?srnd=phx-crypto\">noted<\/a> that geopolitical tensions and U.S. dollar weakness would typically strengthen the &#8220;digital gold&#8221; narrative. <\/p>\n<p>Instead, investors have poured billions into gold exchange-traded funds while pulling capital from Bitcoin ETFs.<\/p>\n<p>Critics argue Bitcoin has failed its macro test &#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.benzinga.com\/crypto\/cryptocurrency\/26\/02\/50782525\/bitcoins-45-collapse-doesnt-mean-it-failed-bitwises-matt-hougan-says?utm_source=benzinga_taxonomy&amp;utm_medium=rss_feed_free&amp;utm_content=taxonomy_rss&amp;utm_campaign=channel\" alt=\"Bitcoin's\" collapse doesn mean it failed bitwise matt hougan says>Full story available on Benzinga.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) is seeing a debate over its true identity, with Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan argueing that critics are missing the bigger picture. Bitcoin&#8217;s \u2018Identity Crisis&#8217; Bitcoin has fallen more than 40% from its peak amid broader market uncertainty and geopolitical tensions, with no clear catalyst driving crypto prices higher. The debate [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3,4,5],"class_list":["post-73584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-crypto","tag-doge","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=73584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73584\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=73584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=73584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=73584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}