Insight: 2026 May See a "Crypto Winter," but Institutionalization and On-chain Transformation are Accelerating
BlockBeats News, December 29th, Cantor Fitzgerald pointed out in its latest year-end report that Bitcoin may be entering a prolonged multi-month downward cycle, with the market possibly stepping into an early "crypto winter" in 2026. Analyst Brett Knoblauch believes that Bitcoin has fallen back from this cycle's peak for about 85 days, and the price may continue to be under pressure, even testing the Strategy's average cost line around $75,000.
However, unlike previous cycles, this downward cycle is unlikely to be accompanied by a large-scale liquidation or systemic collapse. Cantor notes that the current market is dominated by institutions rather than retail investors, and the "divergence" between token price performance and on-chain fundamentals is widening, especially in the DeFi, tokenized assets, and crypto infrastructure sectors.
On the regulatory front, the passage of the U.S. "Digital Asset Market Structure Clarity Act" is seen as a key turning point, expected to reduce policy uncertainty and drive banks and asset management institutions to more deeply engage in the crypto market.
Cantor concluded that although 2026 may not usher in a new bull market, the institutionalization of the crypto industry, compliance pathways, and on-chain infrastructure are gradually solidifying while the price cools down.
Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.
You may also like
Bitcoin (BTC) Tanks Toward $80K, Ripple (XRP) Loses Key Support: Weekend Watch
WLD Price Prediction: Worldcoin Eyes $12 as Cloudflare Partnership Advances
Last week, retail investors made a "record-breaking" dip buy of US chip leveraged ETFs, but this week they plummeted.
Last week, retail investors poured $6.1 billion into 3x leveraged chip ETFs, but suffered a 20.5% single-day plunge this Thursday, almost perfectly coinciding with the start of the rapid downturn. The cumulative decline in October has exceeded 43%, far surpassing the 15.9% loss of non-leveraged products during the same period. The root cause lies in the market’s skepticism toward AI investment returns. The most significant uncertainty is whether aggressive spending by tech giants will actually deliver on profit expectations, while the use of leverage has exponentially magnified the cost of this misjudgment.
Africa’s payment giant backed by SoftBank is rushing to list in the US! Opay (OPAY.US) plans to raise $336 million, with its valuation possibly exceeding $4 billion
The payment platform Opay Ltd., which focuses on the Nigerian market, plans to raise up to 336 million dollars through an initial public offering (IPO).
Crypto prices
More
