What to Expect from the Crypto Market in 2026: Divergent Visions from Financial Giants

As 2025 drew to a close amid extreme volatility and oscillating sentiment, Wall Street and digital sector analysts began to make their predictions for the coming year. With Bitcoin ($BTC) currently trading at $90.59K (with a market capitalization of $1.809 trillion), the outlook for 2026 appears significantly more constructive compared to the widespread concerns of previous months.

Financial Infrastructure vs. Speculative Asset: BlackRock’s Thesis

BlackRock has outlined a fundamental paradigm shift for 2026. The massive asset management firm believes that stablecoins will go beyond their niche status, transforming into crucial tools for cross-border payments and global liquidity flows.

This is not merely a technological evolution but a strategic repositioning. According to the company’s vision, fiat-pegged tokens are maturing into a permanent bridge between traditional financial systems and the digital ecosystem. As highlighted by company executives, the substantial growth of cryptocurrencies will occur where news excites headlines the least: in infrastructural layers where DeFi and conventional finance intersect.

New All-Time Highs on the Horizon According to Grayscale

The annual outlook released by Grayscale – the leading digital asset investment fund manager – presents a highly positive scenario for cryptocurrency forecasts in the first half of 2026. The analysis suggests that Bitcoin will reach a new price record driven by three interconnected factors: clearer and more stable US regulation, accelerated institutional adoption, and the weakening of purely speculative cycles tied to quadrennial halvings.

What sets this perspective apart is the recognition that macroeconomic liquidity and stable regulatory environments will serve as the main price drivers, shifting focus away from algorithmic narratives. Institutions will begin to treat BTC as a standard allocatable asset class within diversified portfolios, marking a structural evolution in the market.

Perpetuals, Predictions, and Stability: Coinbase’s Recipe

Coinbase’s institutional division has identified three structural pillars that will define market movements in 2026: perpetual futures, prediction markets, and stablecoins.

Perpetual contracts, Coinbase argues, will continue to dominate price discovery and will represent the main volume of trading. The leverage reset observed at the end of 2025 is interpreted as a structural market repositioning, not a temporary contraction.

Meanwhile, prediction markets will emerge as credible hubs for information transfer and risk management. It is no coincidence that Coinbase itself is planning expansion into this segment. Regarding stablecoins and payments, Coinbase projects a market capitalization for stable tokens approaching $1.2 trillion by 2028, signaling the consolidation of these assets as the dominant use case of blockchain technology.

Galaxy Reimagines Value Capture in Tokens

In its report “26 Predictions for Crypto, Bitcoin, DeFi, and AI for 2026,” Galaxy shares a focus on concrete applications alongside BlackRock. The company anticipates that stablecoins will process volumes surpassing the US ACH payment system, becoming the foundation of value transfers.

Tokenized assets will penetrate mainstream markets, taking on roles in collateral and capital management. On the blockchain level, Galaxy foresees a repositioning of value capture, with at least one major L1 network likely to develop a revenue-generating application. Although Galaxy considered it overly speculative to predict Bitcoin’s exact price in 2026, the team maintains its projection of $250,000 by the end of 2027.

The Goldilocks Year According to ARK Invest

Cathie Wood of ARK Invest continues to build her thesis on institutional adoption of Bitcoin over multiple years. The company has maintained its bullish scenario for 2030, raising the forecast to $2.4 million in the most optimistic case, and has increased acquisitions of crypto-exposed positions toward the end of 2025.

Wood recently stated that 2026 could be a “Goldilocks” year – characterized by an ideal balance of market conditions. If oil and housing costs continue to decline, inflation could approach zero significantly, creating the perfect environment for digital asset appreciation. Although this scenario is counterintuitive to recent hawkish rhetoric, it highlights how markets may underestimate the consequences of underlying macro dynamics.

Convergence on Structural Trends

Although various analytical institutions offer different nuances, an implicit consensus emerges: 2026 will be defined not by speculative narratives but by underlying market structures and institutional integration. Cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin, will continue their transition from purely speculative assets to legitimate components of global financial ecosystems, with stablecoins leading this transformation.