Beluga's 10 Predictions for 2026

Introduction

2025 was a roller coaster to say the least, filled with the highest of highs and some of the lowest lows. We saw Bitcoin become a top global asset finally reaching over $100k, meaningful institutional adoption of crypto and blockchain technology with over $70B in flows to Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, and major crypto brands like Circle finally make their debut on public equity markets achieving massive valuations. At the same time the market has certainly not been friendly as even Bitcoin trades below its yearly open, and October brought us the biggest day of liquidations in crypto’s history, dwarfing even the day FTX collapsed.

All things considered, there was a lot of progress made in legitimizing the crypto industry and the future looks bright. Below are our top predictions for the year of 2026:

Top Predictions for 2026

1. Meta announces the launch of their own blockchain designed for social payments, continuing their work from the now-defunct Libra project.
2. Aave gets acquired by a major bank for $7B+, marking the largest crypto acquisition of all time while blurring the line between crypto’s decentralized ethos and TradFi’s centralized structure.
3. A breakthrough in quantum computing triggers a panic over blockchain security, leading to “quantum resistance” emerging as a major narrative for altcoins.
4. An AI agent autonomously manages a $100M+ DeFi fund operating via smart contracts and making independent trading decisions with returns that beat human fund managers.
5. Proliferation of CBDC’s in countries like China cause privacy tokens like Monero and Zcash to see explosive adoption.
6. Total tokenized assets reach a market capitalization of $1T, up from the current total of $414B.
7. Circle (NYSE: CRCL) does not reach a new all-time high in 2026 despite the total stablecoin supply rising to $500B.
8. Ethereum staking yields drop below 2% to treasury-like levels (currently 3%) as institutional staking rates rise, giving ETH bond-like characteristics that institutions demand.
9. A Layer 2 flips Avalanche AVAX (currently $8.5B) in FDV, proving the L2 scaling roadmap has created more valuable ecosystems than standalone L1s.
10. The NFT market rebounds… but not for PFPs as utilities like luxury good authentication and corporate loyalty programs drive usage to all-time highs.