Crypto Crystal Ball 2026: Are We Heading To Bitcoin and Crypto Winter?

In 2025, favorable regulatory outcomes helped boost a frenzied crypto bull run, but that hot streak has since faded. Now many traders are wondering: was this it? Is it back to another bear market? al?

For Declutter‘s annual Crypto Crystal Ball series, we dive deep into the questions that could define the next year for digital assets, and what they mean for you.

We’ve already looked at whether the crypto industry will be able to pass the coveted market structure law, and whether Wall Street is about to become the industry’s next nemesis soon. Today we ask a question that is undoubtedly on the minds of many of you: will 2026 be a crypto winter?

While financial analysts have somewhat differing opinions on the likely path next year, most agree that the answer to that burning question is a resounding one. No.

“We in no way see a crypto winter on the horizon,” Zach Pandl, Grayscale’s head of research, told me. Declutter of the company’s 2026 outlook.

Pandl, on the other hand, predicts that Bitcoin will likely break another all-time price record in the first half of the year. The token reached its most recent all-time high of $126,000 in early October, but has fallen significantly since then.

Greg Magadini, director of derivatives at Amberdata, agrees that 2026 will not result in a crypto bear market, but also sees the year being a little less smooth. He expects 2026 to be a “volatile mix” of intense moves for Bitcoin and Ethereum in both directions.

“I think 2026 will be scary on the front end for crypto longs, and then great on the back end for crypto longs,” Magadini told us. Declutter.

The analyst expects that Bitcoin will likely fall below $67,000 in the first few months of the year, before eventually rising to a new all-time high, possibly between $150,000 and $200,000.

The difference in outlook between the analysts comes down to what they think is driving the current crypto bull run. Magadini, for example, thinks crypto prices are now firmly linked to macroeconomic sentiment, which he believes will fall due to a credit crunch in the first third of 2026, before recovering after central banks respond to the challenge.

“Everything that’s crypto-specific is already priced in, and it’s been as good as it can be,” Magadini said.

Grayscale’s Zach Pandl disagrees. He claims that the endurance of the crypto bull market will be determined by two industry trends: the demand for alternative stores of value and additional regulatory measures that accelerate the trend of crypto integration with the traditional economy.

It’s that perspective that leads Pandl to predict that Bitcoin – in a class of its own as an alternative store of value – is poised for a strong 2026. But altcoins, and Ethereum to a lesser extent, are much more dependent on the regulatory narrative, he said – which will depend on the passage of a crypto market structure law in the United States next year.

Should that bill fail — as we explored in an earlier article in this series — then altcoins, and possibly Ethereum, could have a tougher year than Bitcoin, Pandl said.