Matt Hogan, chief investment officer at Bitwise, seems more confident that cryptocurrency markets will boom in 2026, especially since there has been no late-2025 rally yet.
Speaking to Cointelegraph at The Bridge conference in New York City on Wednesday, Hogan said the crypto market’s rally at the end of 2025 would fit the assumption of a four-year cycle, meaning 2026 would mark the start of a bear market, similar to 2022 and 2018.
When asked to do so Review his forecasts On whether the cryptocurrency market will boom in 2026, Hogan said: “I’m actually more confident in that quote. The biggest risk was [if] “We got to the end of 2025 and then we got a pullback.”
Hogan said that interest in Bitcoin (Bitcoin) devaluation trade, Stablecoins and Coding You will continue to accelerate, while arguing it Proposal to switch Uniswap fees These reforms introduced on Monday could revitalize interest in DeFi protocols in the coming year.
“I think the underlying fundamentals are very sound,” Hogan said. “I think these previous forces, like institutional investment, regulatory progress, stablecoins, tokenization, I think they are too big to be underestimated. So I think 2026 will be a good year.”
Bitcoin could still hit a new high before the end of the year
Hogan remains bullish on Bitcoin and Ether (Ethereum) and Solana (Sol) could hit new highs by 2026, but not as much as Maelstrom Fund’s chief investment officer, Arthur Hayes, and Fundstrat managing partner, Tom Lee, think.
A few months ago, the pair predicted that the value of Bitcoin and Ether would reach $250,000 and $15,000, respectively, before the end of the year.
Related to: Altcoins are not dead; Long live altcoins
Bitcoin is currently trading at $101,762 and Ethereum at $3,416, meaning they would have to rise by 145% and 340% to reach these lofty goals.
Native Cryptocurrency Retail Trading ‘Depressed’
Speaking about the current market decline, Hogan blamed “domestic crypto fragmentation,” arguing that many… Early investors It has had a “compressed uptrend” with large sales recently.
Hogan said those who expected a repeat of the 2020-2021 bull cycle were subjected to a harsh reality check.
“The local crypto retail business is depressed, they got beat up by FTX, they got beat up by the memecoin debacle. They got beat up by the altcoin season not arriving. They got hurt in the 10/10 liquidation, and I think they’re ignoring it.”
On the other hand, “TradFi retail” is booming, according to Hogan, who noted that spot cash flows for cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds have risen over the past two years.
“Traditional retail, like my uncle, is moving to crypto, and that part of retail is still very much alive,” Hogan said.
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