CoinShares Forecast: Crypto to Merge Deeper Into Traditional Markets by 2026
Get ready for the great financial blur.
Forget the walled gardens. The next phase of crypto isn't about building a parallel universe—it's about colonizing the old one. According to a new forecast, the lines between digital assets and traditional finance are set to vanish within the next year.
The Integration Playbook
Think seamless, not separate. The vision points to crypto protocols becoming the plumbing for everything from bond settlements to equity trades. Legacy systems, with their batch processing and three-day waits, look increasingly like relics. Digital ledgers don't sleep, don't take weekends, and—crucially—don't charge intermediary fees that would make a medieval toll-bridge operator blush.
Regulation: The Forced Handshake
Compliance is no longer the enemy; it's the onboarding ramp. Clearer frameworks from major economies are acting as a forcing function, giving institutional capital the green light it's been waiting for. The smart money isn't betting against the system anymore—it's betting on being the system.
The merger is already in motion. It's in the tokenized treasury bills on-chain and the spot ETFs trading in New York. The final step isn't a revolution; it's a quiet, bureaucratic absorption where the most disruptive thing about crypto becomes its sheer normalcy. The ultimate finance joke? The most transformative technology since the internet gets adopted not to overthrow the banks, but to make their quarterly reports look better.
Institutional adoption and market structure
The report also outlines Bitcoin’s move into the mainstream. More than US$90 billion was allocated to US spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs), while corporate treasuries hold upwards of 1 million BTC. Options markets matured, retirement plan restrictions were relaxed, and the U.S. government created a strategic bitcoin reserve.
CoinShares predicts that in 2026, wirehouses will open Bitcoin ETF allocations, at least one 401(k) provider will give access, and custody banks will provide direct institutional settlements. Further, the price of Bitcoin could MOVE well past $150,000 in a soft landing scenario, or between $110,000–$140,000 during stable growth. On the other hand, temporary suppression by stagflation or recession is possible.
Ethereum remains the main settlement layer for hybrid finance. It saw $13 billion in ETF net inflows, and institutional experiments like J.P. Morgan’s deployment on Base. solana made its comeback, growing stablecoin supply from $1.8 billion to $12 billion after January 2024.
Regulation and strategic shifts
Regulations for crypto are finally coming together worldwide. In Europe, the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) rules make it clear how digital assets can be issued, stored, and traded. In the US, the GENIUS Act treats payment stablecoins like regular money rather than securities, which increases demand for government bonds. Meanwhile, in Asia, countries are following Basel-style banking rules, and Hong Kong has set new crypto capital requirements that will take effect in 2026.
Bitcoin miners have signed $65 billion in HPC and AI contracts, making them diversified compute providers. Prediction markets reached mainstream relevance, as Intercontinental Exchange made an investment of up to $2 billion in Polymarket.
Just at the end of November, the company withdrew ETF applications for US-listed exchanges for XRP, Solana, and Litecoin, winding down the Bitcoin futures Leveraged ETF. Income from passive products will be replaced by a focus on higher-margin active management and thematic baskets.
Despite leaving the US spot market, CoinShares is still the leading player in Europe, managing approximately US$10 billion in assets with a 34% market share.
CoinShares’ 2026 report shows crypto is increasingly integrated with traditional finance. Clearer rules, more institutional involvement, and hybrid systems are changing how the market operates.
Also Read: Harvard Triples Bitcoin Holdings, Doubles Gold ETF Allocation
