TradFi Advisers Shifting to Stablecoins and Tokenization Over Bitcoin

Bitwise Asset Management's Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan published a note on June 11, 2026 reporting a clear shift in institutional adviser sentiment: stablecoins and tokenization are now generating more interest than Bitcoin among financial advisers at major institutions. Hougan spoke with more than 40 advisers during recent discussions and found Bitcoin engagement notably difficult compared to prior rounds.

What the Advisers Said

"It was pretty hard to engage with advisors on Bitcoin this week," Hougan wrote. "In call after call, they expressed much more curiosity over the real-world applications of crypto that are quickly reshaping everything from capital markets to global payments."

Hougan attributed the shift to a change in the broader narrative. "It's hard to turn on CNBC and not hear someone like SEC Chair Paul Atkins or Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon or BlackRock CEO Larry Fink talking about stablecoins and tokenization," he said. Advisers are following that signal — they want exposure to what institutional leadership is publicly endorsing.

Platforms and protocols mentioned during adviser conversations included Ethereum, Solana, Canton Network, Chainlink, and Avalanche, as well as companies Figure, Circle, and Coinbase.

Why Stablecoins and Tokenization Now

The timing reflects several converging forces. Circle's June 2025 IPO put stablecoins directly into the public equity narrative. The GENIUS Act — the US stablecoin framework bill — has advanced through Senate proceedings, providing regulatory clarity that institutional allocators require before committing. Meanwhile, tokenization of real-world assets has moved from pilot to production at institutions including BlackRock (BUIDL fund, $2.5B+), JPMorgan (Kinexys), and Mastercard (Multi-Token Network).

Bitcoin, by contrast, has struggled to maintain momentum in 2026, trading down roughly 30% year-to-date to approximately $62,500 at the time of Hougan's writing. Without a near-term catalyst — and with regulatory attention focused on infrastructure rather than store-of-value narratives — advisers are finding it difficult to justify new allocations.

The XRPL Positioning in This Shift

For XRPL builders, the adviser shift is validating rather than surprising. The XRP Ledger's native stablecoin support, trust line architecture, and permissioned domain features were designed for exactly the institutional use cases advisers are now asking about: stablecoin settlement, tokenized securities, and compliance-first payment rails. RLUSD's integration into Mastercard's settlement network and its growth past $1.5 billion in market cap reflect the same demand that advisers are now directing toward the space more broadly.

Hougan's observation that the "best hope" for pulling crypto into a bull cycle is financial advisers and institutional investors flowing into stablecoin and tokenization investments aligns with the infrastructure buildout visible across XRPL, Ethereum, and Canton Network over the past 18 months.

Implication for Infrastructure Builders

When advisers to major institutions shift focus, product decisions follow. Exchanges and platforms have already begun offering tokenized stocks and stablecoin yield products — Coinbase, Robinhood, and others have expanded into these business lines. For builders in the XRPL ecosystem, adviser attention on the utility layer of crypto is a distribution signal: the institutional channel is opening, and the conversation has moved from "should we do crypto" to "which rails do we use."