Tiger Research outlines 10 key crypto market shifts for 2026

Asia-based Web3 research and consulting firm Tiger Research has released its forecast for 10 significant changes in the cryptocurrency market for 2026. The key predictions are as follows: 1. Institutional funds will concentrate on proven, major assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum as the market reorganizes around institutional players. 2. Projects that fail to generate actual revenue and establish sustainable business models will be forced out of the market, as compelling narratives alone will no longer be enough for survival. 3. Utility and governance-focused token models will lose their appeal to investors. Instead, mechanisms offering clear value return, such as buybacks and token burns, will become the core standard. 4. Mergers and acquisitions among projects will accelerate as the Web3 industry enters a mature phase, leading to a market consolidation dominated by a few winners. 5. Blockchain-based decentralized crowdsourcing for robot training data will expand, creating a new gig economy where individuals receive immediate compensation for their data contributions. 6. Traditional media outlets will adopt prediction markets to diversify their revenue models, transforming readers from passive consumers into active participants in news outcomes. 7. Traditional financial institutions will increasingly build their own proprietary chains to lead the real-world asset (RWA) tokenization market, reducing their dependence on external blockchains. 8. The successful launch of Ethereum staking ETFs will, in turn, revive the BTCFi ecosystem by stimulating demand for additional yield from Bitcoin ETF investors. 9. As regulatory frameworks become clearer, fintech apps are expected to replace exchanges as the primary entry point into the cryptocurrency market. 10. Privacy-enhancing technologies will become essential infrastructure to protect the trading strategies of institutions managing large-scale funds.