Cantor Fitzgerald Expects Institutional Adoption of Crypto to Continue in 2026

Cantor Fitzgerald reportedly expects institutional adoption of cryptocurrency to continue in 2026, even as the downturn in Bitcoin prices continues.

The increasing regulatory clarity around digital assets is likely to reduce risk and allow banks and asset managers to increase their involvement in this sector, CoinDesk reported Monday (Dec. 29), citing Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Brett Knoblauch.

Cantor Fitzgerald also identified as continuing trends the increasing value of real-world asset tokenization, the growing market share held by decentralized exchanges rather than centralized venues, and the rise of on-chain prediction markets, according to the report.

Regarding the value of Bitcoin, Cantor Fitzgerald said prices may be under pressure for months and that the markets may be repeating Bitcoin’s historical four-year cycle, per the report.

PYMNTS reported Wednesday (Dec. 24) that while digital assets are ending 2025 with nearly all of their gains over the past 12 months having been erased by market volatility, they also saw structural adoption, regulatory articulation and financial integration this year.

The sector’s evolution was driven by softening policy in the United States, the signing into law of the stablecoin-focused GENIUS Act, the embedding of institutional capital and its expectations in crypto markets, and the proliferation of crypto treasury companies.

There is also a growing divide at the center of the digital asset universe, which is distributed ledgers or blockchains, with public blockchains remaining the center of gravity for crypto innovation, and private chains, or permissioned distributed ledgers, being where much of the growth in enterprise blockchain adoption over the past two years has occurred.

It was also reported Wednesday that the number and value of acquisitions and initial public offerings (IPOs) in the crypto sector surged this year, driven by the President Donald Trump administration’s favorable stance toward the industry.

The number of acquisitions saw a year-over-year increase of 18%, reaching 267, and the value of the deals struck increased nearly fourfold and reached $8.6 billion.

Over the same time, the number of crypto IPOs worldwide rose from four to 11, while the amount raised by these IPOs increased from $310 million to $14.6 billion.