Cryptocurrency analytics company Messari shared its predictions for the sector in 2026 in its new report.
The report argues that 2025 will be an extremely polarizing year for the crypto industry, with the market offering completely different experiences for different actors.
According to Messari, 2025 will be one of the strongest years in crypto history for Wall Street-based institutional investors, while it will stand out as a challenging period that falls short of expectations for individual investors and community-focused participants.
The report states that Bitcoin has clearly diverged from all other crypto assets and solidified its position as the leading cryptocurrency. The relatively weak performance seen in the second half of 2025 was largely attributed to selling pressure from older, high-cap wallets. Messari predicts that this does not constitute a permanent or structural problem, and that Bitcoin’s monetary narrative will remain intact in the long term.
The report noted that the valuations of many Layer-1 (L1) networks are increasingly decoupled from fundamental indicators. Pointing to significant year-on-year declines in L1 revenues, Messari stated that current valuations are increasingly based on expectations of a “monetary premium.” With a few exceptions, L1 projects are expected to underperform Bitcoin in the coming period.
Ethereum remains one of the most debated assets in the sector. While questions about its value accumulation haven’t completely disappeared, it’s argued that the market will begin pricing ETH as a “cryptocurrency” similar to Bitcoin in the second half of 2025. Messari predicts that if a new bull market emerges in 2026, Ethereum-focused digital treasures (DATs) could experience a “second life.”
According to Messari, Zcash (ZEC) is no longer just a niche privacy coin; it’s now being priced as a private cryptocurrency. In the context of increasing surveillance, corporate control, and financial pressure, ZEC is positioned as a complementary hedge against Bitcoin.
*This is not investment advice.