7 Major Encryption Trends and Lessons You Must Understand Before 2026

Author: 0xJeff

Translation: Deep Tide TechFlow

The year 2025 is filled with unprecedented turmoil and change. We welcomed a U.S. president who is said to support cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence. However, the market in 2025 did not bring the anticipated bull market, but instead became a year of “slaughter” for the entire industry.

• Most competing coins experienced a decline of 80%-99% in 2025
• Bitcoin's market cap share has returned to the levels of 2019-2020 (over 60%), outperforming most altcoins
• The trading price of Ethereum (ETH) is not much different from that of 2022
• The competitive coin market is highly fragmented (there are 40 to 50 million types of coins in circulation)
• Despite the continuous positive news in the industry (such as clearer regulatory frameworks, ETF approvals, corporate adoption of blockchain technology, and institutional investments in BTC, ETH, and competitive coins, etc.), the performance of the stock market in 2025 completely overshadowed the crypto market

Despite the pain and turmoil, 2025 is still seen by many as the “year of maturity” for the industry, but this year also witnessed the exit of a large number of practitioners and investors.

So, for those who are still holding on in the cryptocurrency space, here are the key points you must understand before 2026 arrives:

Let's dive deeper ↓

Market Prediction: Multifunctional Trading Tool

The market is predicted to become one of the fastest-growing verticals by 2025, with nominal weekly trading volume reaching $3.8 billion for the first time, and Polymarket, Kalshi, and Opinion emerging as the dominant platforms in this field.

Despite the ongoing debate about whether “prediction markets are equivalent to gambling,” the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) views them as event contracts or binary options based on the outcomes of real-world events. The CFTC's innovation-friendly stance, combined with the growing market demand for betting/prediction, has driven rapid growth in prediction market trading volume by 2025.

From the perspective of trading tools, the prediction market demonstrates great flexibility. It can be seen as an option tool that is more optimized for user experience (though it still lacks in terms of liquidity).

You can use leveraged trading in any market, choose a “Yes/No” directional bet, use it as a hedging tool (by holding spot positions elsewhere), or earn profits and potential airdrop rewards by executing a delta neutral strategy (evenly distributing “Yes/No” shares in the market).

Cash-Settled Put Options and Covered Call Options

These two options strategies are very suitable for investors who wish to manage their investments in a more conservative manner.

Instead of directly buying or quickly selling competitive coins when prices drop, it's better to generate cash flow by selling call or put options. If the price reaches a certain target, you can choose to buy the dips or sell your competitive coins; if the price does not reach the target, you will recover your principal.

This strategy is one of the best ways to generate a high annual percentage rate (APR) for your competitive coins or stablecoins.

The only thing to note is that your principal will be locked for a period of time (usually 3-5 weeks), but you will receive the option fee (premium) immediately when selling call or put options.

Narrative Fatigue + Equity vs Token = Return to Fundamentals

The rotation speed of market narratives has significantly accelerated, with hotspots that used to last for several weeks or even months now lasting only a few days at most.

The crypto community (CT) is shifting from chasing narratives to focusing on real fundamentals (such as user numbers, revenue, and growth metrics). The market is increasingly inclined to assess the indicators of real businesses and clearly indicate the value transfer relationship between the business and the token.

However, this year in the game between equity and tokens, we have witnessed too much chaos, especially in the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) field:

• Pumpfun acquired Padre (trading tool), but completely kept the token holders of Padre in the dark. After the acquisition news was announced, PADRE tokens plummeted by 50%-80%, triggering a strong backlash from the community. To quell the dissatisfaction of the Padre community, Pumpfun promised to airdrop PUMP tokens in the future based on the PADRE holdings value prior to the acquisition announcement.
• Circle acquired Axelar, but similarly ignored Axelar's token holders. After the acquisition, the AXL token plummeted significantly. This is recent news, and what will happen next is still unknown, but the community is already furious (which is understandable).

The debate between equity and token holders is intensifying, which leads us to a deeper issue…

Market Governance Organizations and Ownership Tokens

MetaDAO has launched a fair, transparent, and tamper-proof ICO launch platform, characterized by high liquidity, a relatively low fully diluted valuation (FDV) structure, and no venture capital (VC) or private placement allocations. Additionally, some mechanisms have been introduced, such as performance-based team unlocks and potential fund recovery features.

This structure grants token holders true ownership, control, and alignment of interests, effectively addressing issues such as project teams running away, token crashes, opaque operations, and improper acquisitions.

Colosseum (an organization that independently accelerates the Solana ecosystem) recently launched “STAMP” (Simple Token Agreement, a market protection mechanism), which is a brand new investment contract designed to merge private venture capital financing with the public MetaDAO ICO, ensuring investor rights and aligning with the on-chain governance of MetaDAO.

The MetaDAO model has given rise to a new category called “ownership tokens,” which are initiated through MetaDAO's ICO. Many projects that have already launched are performing strongly — for example, Umbra, Omnipair, and Avici, which saw high demand during their fundraising period, and their tokens significantly outperformed the market in 2025.

Through the MetaDAO model, the importance of token holders has been enhanced; they truly have a voice and effectively own the project. Project revenues and expenses are no longer directed towards equity holders but directly benefit token holders.

The trend of market governance organizations and ownership tokens is likely to continue until 2026 and will intertwine with the upcoming trends…

The Rise of Tokenized Securities

On-chain liquidity is constrained, and market participants are gradually shifting their focus to fundamentals, income, share buybacks, and other practical values. At the same time, companies are starting to adopt stablecoins, and more institutions are investing capital into the crypto space. Recently, tokenized securities have become simpler and more feasible than ever, especially for regulated institutions.

On December 11, 2025, the field of security tokenization welcomed an important regulatory breakthrough. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a “No-Action Letter,” clearly stating that it would not take enforcement action against DTCC's subsidiary DTC's pilot security tokenization program. The pilot program includes the tokenization of Russell 1000 index constituents, U.S. Treasury bonds, and major ETFs.

This mechanism will implement compliant centralized tokenization operations through the DTC during the pilot period (starting in the second half of 2026, for three years), guiding activities towards regulated infrastructure instead of a fully decentralized alternative.

This means that starting from 2026, we will see more tokenization projects for securities, which also implies an increased demand for tokenized stocks, accelerating the integration between traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi).

Consumer-grade crypto products and perpetual contracts have become the core of crypto.

In 2025, consumer-grade crypto products and perpetual contracts (Perps) became the core focus of the crypto industry:

• Pumpfun reaches its peak in 2024-2025
• Virtuals employs a similar model but incorporates a brand new AI intelligent agent narrative
• Zora has also made similar attempts in the content token space, gaining the support of Jesse
• Collectibles, Fantasy Football, and prediction markets are expected to be very popular in 2025

These are consumer-oriented products that allow crypto-natives to have fun while also attracting non-crypto users (such as participants in prediction markets) to earn profits while enjoying the experience.

Cryptography itself is like a game, and trading is also a form of entertainment. Therefore, consumer-grade products that are novel and can effectively combine both often stand out more.

Perpetual contracts (Perps) also have similar appeal, as they allow users to make precise bets on the fluctuations of asset prices.

If you focus on predicting key indicators of the market and perpetual contracts, you will find that they reached all-time highs (ATH) in 2025. This data seems to be “shouting” that the product-market fit (PMF) in the crypto space has become evident: the weekly nominal trading volume of prediction markets reached 3.8 billion USD, while the weekly trading volume of perpetual contracts soared to 340 billion USD (with a monthly trading volume of 1.3 trillion USD, setting a new historical high).

This is why people are so keen to participate in platforms like Hyperliquid, Lighter, Aster, Polymarket, and Opinion. The massive activity, huge demand, and significant capital flow directly translate into higher valuations and more airdrop benefits.

Consumer-grade crypto products also hold great potential, but by 2025, we have yet to see truly sustainable consumer-grade crypto products. Sportsdotfun (SDF) has shown good growth momentum in its early stages and is currently engaging in community financing on Legion and Kraken. Although the future of this field remains uncertain, the current outlook is exciting.

From this, we can learn that if you want to find your advantage in this market, you should either invest in platforms (such as prediction markets, perpetual contracts, consumer-grade crypto products) or actively participate in these categories:

• Learn how to trade perpetual contracts
• Make predictions in the prediction market
• Use consumer-grade cryptocurrency products

Through these practices, you can better understand the market and find your competitive advantage. Otherwise…

You can become a “narrator”

That's right, now The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Silicon Valley, and various tech professionals have started to become enthusiastic about the role of “Storyteller.” Many startups have begun to open up positions for “Storytellers.”

In the cryptocurrency space, this has actually long been a common phenomenon. We have “Yappers,” key opinion leaders (KOLs), and narrators who have been discussing projects and helping to build the crypto community for years (even before Kaito proposed the concept of “Yappers”).

But now, it seems that the whole world has begun to realize the importance of having the right narrative and conveying brands, products, and positioning in the right way.

However, the role of the narrator goes far beyond being a “blabbermouth.” Currently, in the crypto space, many “blabbermouths” simply copy and paste content to “boost their presence,” rather than attempting to genuinely learn and understand the topics they are discussing.

This provides an opportunity for those who truly understand the industry, possess expertise, or are curious about learning to stand out—whether in the crypto community (CT) or in the broader field.

Those who are skilled at storytelling can expand their brand influence and ultimately gain the right to choose freely: they can opt for independent development or be “acqui-hired” by startups and projects that align with their brand.

In 2025, we have already seen successful cases of this dynamic. For example, Kalshi recruited well-known figures from the crypto community, while some crypto projects successfully shaped their brand image and attracted more users through close partnerships and ambassador programs (such as sharing badges, etc.).

If you are good at storytelling, then this era is your stage!

Core Summary

The cryptocurrency market in 2024-2025 is like playing a game of “Monopoly”;

The year 2026 will resemble a stage for enterprises, startups, and suited financial professionals—gone are the “Monopoly”-style gameplay, the easy opportunities to make money, and the narratives that rely solely on “digital appreciation.”

In the future, there will be a greater focus on fundamentals, alignment of interests, value accumulation, and compound leverage. If you cannot cultivate a true competitive advantage, even if you are an OG, you may ultimately become someone else's “bag holder.”

Your competitive advantage can be any of the following:

• Have a clear mind, not blinded by delusions;
• Skilled at telling good stories;
• Create high-quality products that people truly need;
• Insight into trends;
• Trade rationally, without being influenced by emotions.

Persist, find your strengths, and you will be rewarded.

(The above content is excerpted and reprinted with the authorization of our partner PANews **, original link | Source: ShenChao TechFlow__)**

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Disclaimer: This article is for market information only. All content and opinions are for reference only and do not constitute investment advice, nor do they represent the views and positions of the blockchain. Investors should make their own decisions and trades, and the author and blockchain will not bear any responsibility for any direct or indirect losses resulting from investors' trading.
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Tags: Altcoin Bull Market Competitive Coins Options Prediction Market