Trump Tariff Winners? Bitcoin And Gold, Bitwise's Matt Hougan Says

Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise Asset Management, says the United States' evolving stance on the dollar's global reserve role could trigger a structural shift in the financial system, one that favors alternative stores of value like Bitcoin BTC/USD and gold.

What Happened: In a new blog post titled “The Fallout From Trump's Tariff Push”, Hougan responded to recent U.S. policy developments, including the White House's aggressive push for tariffs and comments from top economic officials suggesting a deliberate move toward a weaker dollar.

He argues that the administration’s willingness to weaken the currency, even at the cost of its reserve status, has profound implications for global markets.

"The Trump administration wants a significantly weaker dollar, even if it means sacrificing the dollar's role as the world's sole reserve currency," Hougan wrote. "This has big implications for bitcoin."

Hougan's most notable prediction is that the world will transition from a single reserve currency system dominated by the dollar to a more fractured one, where assets like bitcoin and gold play a greater role.

"My sense is that we will move from a single reserve currency (the dollar) to a more fractured reserve system, with hard money like Bitcoin and gold playing a bigger role than it does today," he wrote.

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The Bitwise executive points to comments by Steve Miran, Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, who recently criticized the dollar's dominance as a destabilizing force in global trade.

Miran’s remarks, released as tariff fears rattled markets, framed the dollar's reserve function as a contributor to unsustainable trade deficits and a decline in U.S. manufacturing competitiveness.

Hougan interprets this rhetoric as a clear signal: the U.S. intends to weaken the dollar in an effort to rebalance global trade, which may erode the trust international markets have traditionally placed in it.

What’s Next: In the short term, Hougan believes this will be bullish for Bitcoin.

"Dollar down equals Bitcoin up," he said, citing a negative historical correlation between the U.S. Dollar Index and Bitcoin prices.

Over the past five years, that correlation has ranged from -0.4 to -0.8, reinforcing the idea that a weaker dollar tends to coincide with stronger performance in BTC.

"In this context, the case for bitcoin is simple," he continued. "Where else can investors go for a scarce, global, digital store of value that sits outside the control of any government or entity?"

Bitwise maintains its long-standing year-end price target of $200,000 for bitcoin, a prediction first issued in December. Hougan reaffirmed that target, suggesting that current macroeconomic shifts only strengthen the bullish outlook.

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