A recent market research report provides a comprehensive outlook on the crypto ecosystem by 2026, covering Bitcoin prices, mainstream coin performance, regulatory changes, and more.

Regarding Bitcoin, forecasting agencies believe it is still possible to reach historic highs by 2026. The current implied prices in the options market indicate a 50% chance that Bitcoin will be around $70,000 by the end of June, and a 50% chance it could surge to $130,000; by the end of the year, there is an equal probability of $50,000 or $250,000. This wide price range somewhat reflects market expectations divergence. However, in the short term, as long as BTC does not stabilize above $100,000 to $105,000, downward pressure remains. Optimists, however, expect BTC to reach $250,000 by the end of 2027.

For other coins, the Solana ecosystem is unlikely to see the advancement of inflation reduction plans this year—current SIMD-0411 proposal is expected to be withdrawn directly without a vote. Meanwhile, the ratio of application revenue to network revenue is expected to double.

On the regulatory front, the US Securities and Exchange Commission may face lawsuits from traditional financial institutions or industry organizations due to its innovation exemption policies. Another clear trend is that traditional finance is beginning to embrace on-chain assets—at least one major bank or brokerage is expected to accept tokenized stocks as collateral.

In trading ecosystems, the position of decentralized exchanges (DEXs) is rising, with DEXs expected to account for over 25% of total spot trading volume. Additionally, the weekly trading activity on prediction markets (such as leading prediction platforms) is forecasted to remain above $1.5 billion.

Finally, in the ETF sector, the US market is expected to launch over 50 spot altcoin ETFs, along with another 50 other types of crypto ETF products (excluding single-coin spot products). This will further expand the ecosystem of spot crypto ETFs in the US.