- Crypto institutions see 2026 as a year of internationally convergent regulation and restructuring.
- Blackrock sees stablecoins as future channels of global dollar payments, and Grayscale speaks of the beginning of the era of institutions.
In the USA, the “GENIUS Act” makes stablecoins regulated financial instruments, embedded in treasury flows and cross-border settlement. Grayscale calls it the beginning of the “Institutional Era.”
ETF flows replace the assumptions about the consequences of the cryptocurrency halving. For Bitcoin, a new all-time high is considered certain, and privacy tech and RWA tokenization will become structural growth drivers, at least if you follow the assumptions of the experts in the institutions.
Market restructuring expected
- Coinbase Institutional recognizes a shift in focus to market structures. Perpetual futures dominate pricing and price development, prediction markets become serious information markets, and stablecoins remain the largest real-world use case. At the same time, digital treasury structures are becoming more professional, while tokenized stocks and bonds are becoming mainstream.
- Galaxy Digital describes 2026 as the year of the RWA super cycle. Tokenized assets will become standard collateral, stablecoin volumes will overtake that of traditional payment systems, and at least one major blockchain will adopt an “enshrined revenue model.”
- ARK Invest expects an economic “Goldilocks year” with neutral inflation and acceptance by institutions as the driving force. ARK CEO Catherine Wood’s long-term goal for Bitcoin remains at $2.4 million by 2030.
- LBank Labs, CoinGecko and CoinGape see 2026 as a phase of re-institutionalization after the flash crash of 2025. DeFi becomes invisible but useful: it merges with neobanking as the industry divides into regulated gardens and sovereign platforms.
- 21Shares predicts a structurally strong but not euphoric year. Stablecoins cross the $1 trillion mark, tokenization becomes the core market, and AI agents automate capital allocation.
2026 will not be a year of hype, but rather a year of infrastructure. The crypto industry has grown up. Anyone who still relies on supposedly plausible rumors and “narratives” in 2026 will be proven wrong by the realities of the markets.
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