VanEck Head of Digital Assets Research Matthew Sigel believes the next crypto bull market will be driven not by meme coins or speculative trading, but by the convergence of blockchain technology and traditional finance.

• Robinhood Markets stock is under selling pressure. What’s driving HOOD stock lower?

HYPE, HOOD Early Leaders

In an X post on July 23, Sigel highlighted that rather than focusing solely on Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) or Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), investors should watch companies and protocols building the infrastructure for tokenization, stablecoins and on-chain capital markets.

He highlighted Hyperliquid (CRYPTO: HYPE) and Robinhood Markets Inc. (NASDAQ:HOOD) as two early leaders, with the former being an example of crypto-native infrastructure expanding beyond digital assets.

He added that Hyperliquid is on pace to generate $800 million in annualized revenue while using 99% of protocol revenue to repurchase HYPE tokens, reducing circulating supply.

Despite the crypto downturn, Hyperliquid has climbed roughly 146% this year. Sigel said the token could still double in value while remaining reasonably valued.

Robinhood’s recently launched Layer-2 blockchain is one of the strongest examples of financial convergence. Within two weeks of launch, Robinhood Chain reportedly attracted more than $300 million in deposits while processing roughly 3.6 million daily transactions.

Although much of the early activity involved meme coins rather than equities, he believes the underlying infrastructure has already demonstrated meaningful adoption.

Winners In The Next Cycle

Sigel said crypto is beginning to show signs of forming a market bottom.

Since July 1, Bitcoin has gained roughly 9% while the Nasdaq-100 has declined about 6%, spot ETF flows have turned positive and market sentiment has improved.

Alongside Hyperliquid, he identified Uniswap (CRYPTO: UNI), Aave (CRYPTO: AAVE) and Morpho as projects improving token holder economics.

The second category includes established financial companies aggressively adopting blockchain infrastructure rather than limiting themselves to pilot programs.

Among the firms Sigel is watching are Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN), Figure Markets, BlackRock Inc. (NYSE:BLK), Visa Inc. (NYSE:V), Stripe and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM).

Image: Shutterstock