Behind Weak Prices, Crypto Signals a Turning Point Heading Into 2026
While crypto prices struggled to find direction toward the end of 2025, a growing body of data suggests the market may have already moved past its deepest downturn.
According to a new outlook from Bitwise, the final quarter of the year looked less like the middle of a bear market and more like the quiet phase that often precedes a broader recovery.
Rather than focusing on price performance, the firm’s analysis centers on what investors were actually doing on-chain. The conclusion: activity, usage, and revenues across the crypto ecosystem were accelerating even as sentiment remained weak.
Fundamentals strengthened as sentiment stayed depressed
Matt Hougan, Bitwise’s chief investment officer, argued that this type of disconnect has appeared before at major inflection points. In his view, markets tend to bottom when participants lose interest just as adoption quietly improves.
A similar dynamic unfolded after the FTX collapse, when uncertainty dominated headlines but the structural foundation of the market was already repairing itself. Hougan believes late 2025 fits that historical pattern, with price action lagging behind improving fundamentals.
Usage growth tells a different story than prices
One of the clearest signals highlighted by Bitwise was the surge in blockchain usage. Transaction volumes across Ethereum and its scaling networks climbed to record levels, suggesting growing demand for blockspace regardless of short-term market moves.
At the same time, crypto-native businesses continued to post strong revenue growth. Bitwise noted that several segments of the industry are now expanding faster than many publicly traded companies, challenging the idea that crypto remains purely speculative.
Stablecoins and DeFi quietly expand their role
Stablecoins also played a central role in the late-2025 landscape. Transaction volumes surged, and total market value climbed beyond $300 billion, reinforcing their position as a core payment and settlement layer rather than a temporary trend.
Decentralized finance showed similar momentum. Hougan pointed to platforms like Uniswap, which consistently handled more trading volume than centralized players such as Coinbase. He described this shift as a structural change rather than a short-lived anomaly.
Analysts split on how 2026 unfolds
Despite the improving data, expectations for 2026 remain divided. Tom Lee of Fundstrat believes macro pressures, including tariffs and political uncertainty, could keep markets under pressure for much of the year before momentum returns later on.
Others are more optimistic. VanEck sees the early part of 2026 as more supportive for risk assets, pointing to signs of policy stabilization and increasing regulatory clarity in the United States.
Bitwise also highlighted several possible tailwinds ahead, including progress on crypto legislation, continued expansion of stablecoins, leadership changes at the Federal Reserve, and wider access to crypto ETFs through major wealth management firms.
The information provided in this article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or trading advice. Coindoo.com does not endorse or recommend any specific investment strategy or cryptocurrency. Always conduct your own research and consult with a licensed financial advisor before making any investment decisions.
Alex is Editor-in-Chief of Coindoo and co-founder of Millennial Media Group, with nearly a decade of experience covering financial markets - crypto first, then everything else. It started in 2016 with Bitcoin. Like most people at the time, he didn't fully understand it - so he kept digging. Blockchain, tokenomics, the projects, the cycles. That curiosity never stopped, and eventually pulled him into traditional markets too: equities, commodities, macro. Not because he left crypto behind, but because you can't properly understand one without the other. What drives him is straightforward: he wants to know why something is happening, not just that it's happening. Most market coverage stops at the headline - price up, price down, here's a chart. Alex finds that kind of reporting actively unhelpful. If you walk away from an article without understanding the mechanism behind the move, what did you actually learn? He holds a degree in Tourism from New Bulgarian University - not the most obvious path into financial markets, but markets have a way of pulling in people who are simply too curious to stay out. He has authored over 200 in-depth analyses and more than 10,000 articles across crypto and traditional finance. He still thinks every day in markets teaches him something new. That's probably why he hasn't stopped.
