Bitcoin in 2025 displayed an apparent contradiction that challenges the traditional four-year cycle narrative, a dynamic shaping market expectations for 2026. Ethereum’s Merge in 2022 and the introduction of the fee-burning mechanism via EIP-1559 created a monetary narrative around Ether as “Ultra-Sound Money” with implications for deflationary pressure and staking yields.
In late 2025, privacy coins returned to prominence, with the two largest, Zcash and Monero, delivering eye-catching gains over the year. Hyperliquid’s activity in 2025 helped propel the Perp DEX sector, as weekly volumes rose from $81 billion in 2024 to $314.7 billion, and monthly volumes repeatedly surpassed $1 trillion, underscoring Perp DEXs as a hot growth area.
The 2026 outlook analyzes how evolving market structure reshapes crypto’s core narratives, from Bitcoin’s cycle dynamics to the competitive realities facing Layer 1s, perpetual DEXs, and prediction markets. It also considers how these shifts could influence investor interest, capital allocation, and the broader crypto narrative going into 2026.
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