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With a crypto-friendly White House, growing institutional adoption, and a wave of immediate ETF approvals on the horizon, some analysts believe 2026 could be a breakout year for digital assets — even as Bitcoin closes 2025 with its first annual decline since 2022.
Crypto YouTuber Jesse Eckel, who has 276,000 subscribers, announced on… Video of their predictions for the year 2026 “2026 will be the breakout season and the alternate season everyone has been waiting for in 2025.”
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“The bull run everyone has been waiting for in 2025”
“I sold my house. Everything invested in that bet,” said Eckel. “If I am wrong in this, I will accept these consequences.”
Eckel admitted that his predictions for 2025 were a “miserable failure”, especially his call for an alternative season in February 2025. Instead, altcoins declined amid market turmoil related to fees. This error led to a complete reevaluation of the theory of the four-year cycle.
“The 2025 rally was not driven by a large wave of liquidity as in previous cycles,” Eckel explained. “It was driven by narrative flows and institutions — very different from what we’ve seen before.”
Now he predicts that by the summer of 2026, “everyone will accept that the four-year cycle is over.” When this recognition is achieved, he expects “an epic reversal in which all the good news that has been ignored is brought forth at once.”
Ekl reviewed 10 catalysts he believes will drive the 2026 bull market:
- Stablecoin explosion: Growth exceeds 2025, as Wall Street recognizes stablecoins as the biggest success story in cryptocurrencies. Like native income platforms for cryptocurrencies, it facilitates capital flows into other digital assets.
- AI projects overcome: Cryptocurrency projects related to artificial intelligence will drive gains in the clothing season, with at least one of them exceeding a market value of $100 billion.
- Pass the market structure bill: Regulatory clarity will open the doors for ICOs and token launches, benefiting altcoins more directly than Bitcoin.
- BTC and ETH fund inflows have doubledAfter the macro winds suppressed the flows of 2025, a year of positive liquidity 2026 is expected to lead to growth at least double.
- Altcoin Funds Hacked: At least one altcoin ETF – be it Solana, XRP, or Dogecoin – is going to gain serious traction and spark speculation about future approvals.
- At least three rate cuts: After three cuts at the end of 2025, Ekel expects at least three more cuts in 2026.
- Trump-Pecent stimulus payment: With the midterm elections approaching, the administration will “stimulate in almost every way possible,” perhaps including stimulus checks.
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As for price targets, Eckel has raised his forecast for the peak of the Bitcoin cycle to $170,000 to $250,000, from his previous purchase of $170,000, reflecting a timeframe that extends to 2026. He maintains his Ethereum target between $10,000 and $20,000.
“If you get it wrong two years in a row, it’s almost inexcusable,” Eckel admits. “I can really finish.”
Stablecoins, RWA tokenization to drive enterprise adoption
DeFi Technologies CEO Andrew Forson echoed this positive sentiment interviewpredicting that “enterprise adoption will continue to accelerate in 2026.” Blockchain technology will be deployed “in more places, in more technologies, and in more uses,” he said.
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Forson identified stablecoins as the “killer app” of cryptocurrencies, explaining their central role in the digital asset ecosystem.
“Every stablecoin really exists in a distributed ledger, in a decentralized ledger,” he said. “Every time we hear about a stablecoin, there are a number of underlying blockchains that this stablecoin sits on to validate transactions.”
This infrastructure creates what Forson describes as seamless “liquidity” between different asset classes.
“You can put your assets in an instrument like bitcoin or ether or in one of our exchange products, and then turn it into an instrument on the chain and in the stablecoin space,” he explained. “You have liquidity and quick resolution for assets moving from the stablecoin space to yield-generating assets and then back to fiat equivalents.”
Aside from stablecoins, Forson highlighted The accelerating trend towards tokenization of real assets (RWA).). “We’re seeing more and more institutions moving other assets up the chain, including stocks, bonds and commodities,” he noted. “This will only increase the use, and therefore the fundamental values, of these digital assets.”
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Forson also pointed to the convergence of artificial intelligence and blockchain as an emerging use case. “Some source of data needs to be proven, and a great way to prove the provenance of the data used to train an AI model is to actually record that information on the block chain.”
The second major use case, according to Forson, relates to traditional financial infrastructure. “The ability to settle assets, shares and bonds and trade in the world quickly, bringing more liquidity to the space. All these things become more possible and flexible by exploiting distributed ledgers.” He added that DeFi Technologies plans to focus on this area in the coming years.
Not everyone is convinced
Not all analysts share this optimism. Some warn that crypto income could return in 2026. They point to Bitcoin falling more than 30% from its 52-week high, and the exhaustion of key catalysts. Bears also wonder if Bitcoin’s treasury strategies can support demand.
For pessimistic views on 2026, see our coverage here.
