He adds that when financial giants like Larry Fink and Jamie Dimon – who were once among the loudest skeptics – soften their tone, it becomes clear the conversation has shifted. Once we establish a risk budget, we size and structure the allocation accordingly,” Durso said. And while it does not change how ShoreHaven approaches allocations, he admits it does provide meaningful validation for an asset class that was once met with skepticism. Their decision came soon after Vanguard Group finally allowed ETFs and mutual funds that primarily hold cryptocurrencies to be traded on its platform, reversing a longstanding position. If financial conditions turn more supportive – through easing policy, a softer dollar, or renewed liquidity expansion – Bitcoin could revisit and exceed prior highs," he added. "Bitcoin is entering 2026 with less supply risk and a broader capital base," Kalchev said.

More From Money:

The ceiling depends on whether global rate cuts and continued adoption push Bitcoin into another parabolic run. Bitcoin’s role as a store of value is more established than ever, with governments and corporations https://tradersunion.com/brokers/binary/view/iqcent/ treating it as a reserve asset. Institutional inflows through spot ETFs have added more than $18 billion this year, bringing mainstream adoption to a new level.

Core Scientific (CORZ) and Cipher Mining (CIFR) are deeply tied to digital asset mining, which is becoming increasingly professionalized and will see particular benefits from AI integration. At a more basic level, IBIT makes MSTR obsolete for aggressive investors and traders looking to multiply their gains with riskier strategies. Bitcoin and crypto aren’t going away anytime soon, though.

Women Talk Money

Elsewhere, Damon Polistina, director of research at Eaglebrook, believes that as more major institutions lean into digital assets, it reinforces the view that crypto is becoming a standard component of diversified portfolios. “That doesn’t mean crypto suddenly belongs in every portfolio, but it does reinforce that digital assets deserve to be evaluated thoughtfully, within a disciplined framework, rather than dismissed outright. Bitcoin may be struggling in recent months, down around 30% from its all-time high, but cryptocurrency as an asset class is riding a hot streak heading into 2026 as more wealth managers plan to add it to their model portfolios. Nexo’s 2025 call of $250,000 for bitcoin "was less a rejection of its long-term thesis and more a consequence of market mechanics colliding with a shifting macro backdrop," according to Iliya Kalchev, an analyst at the cryptocurrency exchange. DATs are entities that buy and hold cryptocurrency, mainly bitcoin, and attempt to outperform the market. Geoff Kendrick, the bank’s global head of digital asset research, said that the price decline seen in 2025 was "within expected bounds." However, the price action has led Standard Chartered to revise its call.

• Some investors believe that while there will still be pullbacks in price, any drops will be substantially less volatile than they have been in the past, and could be small enough that they won’t feel like full-blown bear markets.
• Worse yet, crypto projects that played fast and loose with the rules often outpaced the good-faith builders.
• For example, investors who may not be able to buy bitcoin directly may choose to gain exposure through these corporations, or the securities they offer.”
• This problem is particularly an issue in crypto, where unique dynamics around tokens and speculation can lead founders down the immediate-gratification path on their journey to finding product-market fit.… It’s a kind of marshmallow test, if you will.
• Kiplinger is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher.
• The Cong paper states that if banks are monopoly suppliers of deposits, the threat of competition from the potential entry of an interest-bearing CBDC will lead banks to increase deposit rates, provide more deposits and make more loans.

After a https://www.producthunt.com/products/iqcent-launch year defined by unexpected outcomes, identifying the most compelling investment opportunities for 2026 is no simple task. Investor sentiment is extremely negative, marked by caution and skepticism, even as the industry finds itself in an unprecedented position. Notably, Bitcoin’s gains failed to cascade into the broader market, leaving hopes for a full-fledged altcoin season largely unfulfilled. Bitcoin’s on-chain metrics and historical parallels paint a clear picture of an emerging bear market in 2026. For instance, corporate treasury flows provide marginal support but remain episodic and price-sensitive.

• In light of this, investors who haven’t entered the market may be wondering if it’s still a good time to buy bitcoin.
• Despite two years of recovery and pro-crypto federal policy, the fundamental barriers to broader cryptocurrency adoption remain unchanged.
• There’s nothing wrong with trading — it’s an important market function — but it doesn’t have to be the final destination.

Web Accessibility

• That’s why debt assets should be originated on chain, not originated off chain and tokenized.
• As these on/off ramps mature, with digital dollars plugging directly into local payment systems and merchant tools, new behaviors will emerge.
• On-chain data reveals increased exchange inflows from mid- to large-sized holders (10–1,000 BTC), signaling distribution rather than accumulation.
• BlackRock, also an active institutional investor in real estate assets, is among the advocates of real-world asset (RWA) tokenization.
• Beyond Bitcoin, few blockchain applications have demonstrated clearer real-world utility than stablecoins, digital tokens designed to maintain a stable value by being pegged to fiat currencies such as the US dollar.

This persuadable group represents enormous conversion potential—nearly double the size of definite buyers (22 percent). This was remarkably consistent across both owners (38 percent) and non-owners (37 percent). Furthermore, Congress passed the GENIUS Act in July 2025 to regulate stablecoins. President Trump also installed a pro-crypto Securities and Exchange Commission chair, Paul Atkins. Dogecoin demonstrated the classic volatility of meme coins, spiking dramatically to 31 percent ownership in 2025—possibly fueled by the Trump inauguration and renewed attention from Elon Musk—before declining slightly this year.

Class Of 2026 Grad Launches Titan Blockchain Club To Explore Cryptocurrency

A token needs a real function, whether it is securing payments, running smart contracts, or connecting blockchains to real-world data. High-cap assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum offer relative stability and liquidity. Choosing the right cryptocurrency in 2026 requires more than chasing headlines. Together, these themes point to a market that is not just speculating on coins but building sectors that could support lasting adoption. At the same time, regulators in the U.S. and Europe have moved toward clarity, removing one of the biggest barriers for large investors. The crypto market enters 2026 in a stronger position than most expected after the turbulence of previous cycles.

Why Strategy Bought Another $2 Billion In Bitcoin Despite A Slumping Crypto Market

Big themes are driving markets, and investors are paying attention. The first notes that the CFTC filed two consent orders against Greg Smith of New York and Michael Nowak of New Jersey for spoofing precious metals futures markets during their respective tenures at a major bank. Fifth, it requires futures commission merchants to use qualified digital asset custodians to hold digital assets. Prediction markets have already gone mainstream, and this coming year, they’ll only become bigger, broader, and smarter as they intersect with crypto and AI — while also posing new and important challenges for builders to resolve. It’s also a massive blocker for the institutions looking to tokenize real world assets right now. As such, the banking industry — especially critical core ledgers, the key databases that track deposits, collateral, and other obligations — still often run on mainframe computers, programmed with COBOL, and with batch file interfaces instead of APIs.

Crypto Ownership Bounces Back—but Hasn’t Broken Through The 2022 Peak

This analysis examines Bitcoin’s current profit/loss dynamics, compares them to the 2022 bear market, and outlines actionable defensive strategies for 2026. As described above in note 3, this premise derives from an economic theory of monopoly power that does not actually reflect the highly competitive deposit market. The paper notes that it “was prepared with financial support from Coinbase, Paradigm, PayPal, and Stripe.” Id. at n.1. But Cong simply concludes that consumers may nonetheless be better off overall, without engaging in a more nuanced analysis of the effect on the types of consumers and communities served by “non-digital” branch-based institutions, which would clearly be net losers according to Cong’s assessment. Perhaps recognizing that these mitigants are overstated, Cong ultimately recognizes that “run dynamics in tokenized liabilities remain an active empirical question, particularly as market structure evolves.”

Both show how community-driven tokens can generate significant returns, but also underline the risks of speculation in meme-driven markets. This flexibility has attracted financial institutions experimenting with RWA platforms, including pilot projects iqcent broker from banks like JPMorgan. As institutions tokenize assets and require secure data feeds, Chainlink’s role becomes more critical. This keeps Ethereum as the base layer for everything from decentralized finance to tokenized real-world assets.