2026 Crypto Outlook — Grayscale

• Institutional Era: 2026 marks the start; BTC may hit a new ATH in H1.

• Macro: Rising debt boosts demand for scarce digital assets (BTC, ETH); privacy coins (ZEC) benefit.

• Regulation: U.S. bipartisan law (CLARITY) expected, enabling institutional inflows and on-chain asset issuance.

• Capital & ETPs: Spot crypto ETPs have attracted ~$87B; institutional inflows to grow steadily.

• Stablecoins & Tokenization: Mass adoption in payments/DeFi; tokenized assets could grow 1000x by 2030 (ETH, SOL, BNB).

• Privacy & AI: Demand for privacy solutions and decentralized AI/blockchain “agent economy.”

• DeFi & Infrastructure: Lending drives growth; DEX derivatives rival CEX; next-gen blockchains (Sui, Monad, MegaETH, Near) support AI payments.

• Staking & Metrics: Staking becomes standard; focus on networks with sustainable fees.

• Non-Drivers: Quantum computers and Digital Asset Treasuries won’t impact 2026 valuations.

Source: Insider Crypto