Bitcoin and general crypto market predictions for 2026 indicate that the industry will now evolve into a new phase governed by institutional and macroeconomic dynamics, breaking away from the four-year classic halving cycles.
While giant financial institutions such as Bernstein and Standard Chartered see the $160,000 to $200,000 for Bitcoin as a reasonable target, analytics giants like 21Shares predict that the global crypto ETP (Exchange Traded Products) volume will exceed $400 billion, competing with Nasdaq-100 ETFs.
Industry representatives and Wall Street analysts expect more than 100 new ETF applications for assets such as Solana, XRP, Cardano (ADA) and Polkadot (DOT) to dominate the market with the SEC simplifying general listing standards in 2026.
Especially with the addition of staking to Ethereum and Solana ETFs, the transformation of these funds into "returning institutional tools" is seen as the main factor that will reinforce the commitment of institutional capital to the ecosystem.
On the macro scale, with the full implementation of the GENIUS Act, stablecoins are expected to become an alternative track to SWIFT in global payment systems, and the on-chain market value of Real World Assets (RWA) such as tokenized US bonds is expected to increase 3-5 times to approach a trillion dollar volume.$SOL
