Written by: Foresight News Editorial Department
Looking back from the cusp of 2025 and 2026, every legal shift, every token price fluctuation, and every narrative of rise and fall in the crypto space has become a silent epic etched in the memories of industry professionals. The past year has been a rollercoaster ride for the industry: digital asset custody institutions have sprung up, and key legislation has been enacted one after another; meanwhile, project failures and shattered narratives have repeatedly played out. Some have glimpsed hope amidst the ruins, while others have exhausted their last vestiges of faith in the speculative frenzy. The year 2026, however, may well be a year of silent reflection. The industry needs to rediscover its scattered initial aspirations, calmly build strength, and await the next true breakthrough.
As 2025 draws to a close, we asked all editors and reporters at Foresight News four questions: 1. Looking back on 2025, what did you gain, and what regrets do you have? How does it compare to your 2025 predictions? 2. With 2025 coming to an end, what is the biggest change you've seen in the crypto world this year? 3. In the coming year, what crypto sectors and targets do you have the most confidence in? 4. Do you predict that Ethereum will outperform Bitcoin in 2026? What will be the highest prices for Bitcoin and Ethereum in 2026?
In addition, Foresight News editors and reporters disclosed their respective cryptocurrency holdings (for public information purposes only and not to constitute any investment advice).
Gains and Regrets
Looking back on 2025, what did you gain this year, and what regrets do you have? How does it compare to your predictions for 2025?
Joe Zhou: Cryptocurrency is a very abstract concept. Who exactly needs it? The biggest takeaway this year was probably visiting more than 10 countries and gradually seeing which individuals, groups, and countries truly need cryptocurrency.
The biggest regret is that the cryptocurrency industry as a whole lacked any truly groundbreaking innovations that transcended the cryptocurrency sphere this year. However, decentralized contract derivatives represented by Hyperliquid, RWA projects like Ondo (especially in the area of stock tokenization), and the x402 project still offer a glimmer of hope for the industry's future. The Polymarket narrative, which had long been abandoned by the industry, has become a hot topic again in the last two years. This might also mean that temporarily disproven sectors like NFTs and decentralized stablecoins have the potential to re-emerge at some point in the future.
In 2025, I predicted that Bitcoin would peak at $160,000, but ultimately BTC failed to break through $130,000. The AI Agent sector also seemed to remain largely unchanged over the past year, and the entire Altcoin market remained stagnant.
Nicky: The most obvious characteristic of 2025 is its speed. The upward trend for most cryptocurrencies will last no more than a month or two, sometimes even just a day or two. You have to get on board early enough, or it will be too late. After CZ commented "Binance life" in the comments section at midnight on October 6th, the token's market capitalization rose to $6 million. I thought this might be another short-lived surge, so I didn't think much of it. However, by October 8th, the market capitalization had risen to $500 million, almost 100 times. But if you chase the price due to FOMO (fear of missing out), you'll likely suffer heavy losses. Contrary to the 2025 prediction of "long-term value," the narrative may be long-term, but the "price" is unlikely to be.
KarenZ: Even projects with strong fundamentals can't withstand market surprises. If profits aren't taken in time, they'll eventually be returned to the market. In most cases, taking profits in stages is the key to survival. A pleasant surprise was investing in a Meme coin on BNB Chain. I bought it at a market capitalization of tens of thousands of dollars, then bought it again at 5 million and 10 million dollars, splitting my position in half each time. Although the Meme later went to zero, it reinforced my belief that taking profits is the greatest respect for trading. Furthermore, in the face of uncertainty, reducing trading frequency is essential for survival; preserving profits is harder than finding opportunities.
Sanqing: I stumbled on narratives and lost money on emotions. The RWA blockchain Plume airdrop at the beginning of the year was arguably the biggest alpha of the year. I also mined several high-yield pools in RealtyX, a real estate tokenization project I've been involved in for a long time, and profited from Polymarket's League of Legends World Championship predictions. The rest were some scattered memes, ICOs, and small projects in the Farcaster ecosystem. My regret is not learning to take profits during rallies. I didn't sell much Plume at its peak, and kept adding as it fell, resulting in a deep loss. Also, I didn't actively buy ETH spot and call options when it was around 2k in the first half of the year. Of course, I missed many other opportunities, but it's impossible to profit from everything, and saying too much would make me seem greedy.
Yobo: I've completed three-quarters of my plan to "clear out all my positions when BNB reaches 1200," but I still have some "dream" positions left. It turns out I should have strictly followed the trading plan. The good news is that I've executed most of it and made some profit in this round. The bad news is that I've verified for the umpteenth time how human nature "hinders" trading and I've missed out on even more.
Eric: My biggest takeaway from 2025 was letting go of my obsession with "making money," and my regret is not waking up to that realization sooner. The saying "Wealth doesn't come to those in a hurry" really makes sense now. Perhaps being in this industry for too long and seeing too many stories of overnight riches clouded my youthful mindset. After turning 30, I started to believe that everyone has their own destiny, and I no longer strive to make money for the sake of making money. I dedicate more time and energy to family and friends, and treat content creation as a lifelong career. If I succeed, I'll thank God; if not, I'll accept it. If there's any difference between 2025 and previous predictions, it's probably that I predicted a decline, but I didn't expect the market to be so resilient.
Chandler: The biggest change this year is that I've lost some of the restlessness of fantasizing about getting rich overnight. There's a ceiling to making money, but there's no ceiling to being content. Life is actually much more interesting than investing.
angelilu: I saw the opportunities but didn't act decisively. I identified some high-quality meme projects early on, but due to hesitation, doubt, or poor position management, I didn't invest heavily. Even with the early investments, I ultimately gave back the profits to the market because I didn't take profits in time. Another regret is that I don't seem to have created more real value for the industry or the community.
Anderson Sima: From a personal perspective, 2025 was a year in which I accumulated considerable trading and interaction experience. I finally participated in many hot topics as a player, rather than just an observer, such as Trump's memes; however, I missed many more hot topics: Plasma, Aster, etc. It's a bit of a regret that I hesitated to participate in those hot topics, or that my understanding and perspective were insufficient when I did participate; but overall, it met my personal expectations, and I look forward to continued growth. Last year, I predicted AI+Web3, but it didn't become a hot topic this year, only the large-scale model trading competition at the end of the year was eye-opening.
Luffy: There weren't any particularly big gains. The regret is that I bought a lot of Ethereum ecosystem Altcoin and ended up losing money.
1912212.eth: I learned a painful lesson and have too many regrets. I predicted that there would be more wealth effects in 2025, but instead, I found that there was more endless PvP. The most regrettable thing is missing out on Giggle. Although it wasn't an official meme coin from Giggle at the beginning, CZ educational concept was very good. I wanted to buy it but hesitated. As a result, it was listed on Binance Alpha and rose significantly. During this period, I thought the increase was already too high and that it wouldn't rise much more. Then it was listed on spot trading, and there was another big surge... I regret missing out.
The biggest change in the crypto industry
As 2025 draws to a close, what has been the biggest change you've seen in the crypto world this year?
Sanqing: This year has seen a surge of traditional financial and regulatory forces into crypto, yet returns have lagged behind traditional assets. More RWAs and ETFs have been launched in compliance, more crypto companies have gone public, and the MiCA Act has come into full effect… However, as the crypto market further integrates with traditional finance, the price volatility of crypto assets is increasingly influenced by Federal Reserve interest rates, inflation, and global liquidity. Against the backdrop of high interest rates and a slowing economy, crypto assets have not experienced the independent surges seen in previous cycles.
This was also the year when the airdrop launch method gradually failed. The "airdrop" model failed due to the proliferation of large-scale witch attacks and fake social tasks such as "talking about airdrops". Some distributions were intercepted by centralized exchanges through various mechanisms, and the distribution logic shifted from community contribution to funds and traffic. Therefore, in order to avoid the huge selling pressure brought by costless tokens, project teams began to return to ICO or conditional pre-sale models to achieve fund recovery and determine the basic price in the early stage.
Joe Zhou: On-chain technology and compliance are progressing rapidly. 1) On-chain technology is rapidly becoming widespread across the industry. Driven by Hyperliquid and Solana, core companies in the industry such as Binance and OKX are fully committed to promoting the on-chain process within their organizations. The giants are turning around quickly. 2) The compliance of cryptocurrencies has become a consensus among major countries worldwide. Nine out of the world's top ten economies have already implemented compliant regulations for stablecoins. The global adoption of stablecoins is one aspect, but more importantly, the United States is actively promoting the full on-chain transformation of its financial system. The US hopes to lead the world into the cryptocurrency era of the financial industry. Although this is not yet reflected in the Altcoin market.
Anderson Sima: The crypto space in 2025 presents a stark contrast. Externally, global cryptocurrency adoption continues to rise, with regulation and innovation making rapid progress under the influence of the US, attracting continuous inflows of capital from Wall Street and the Middle East. Internally, however, four years later, the industry has failed to produce any DeFi or NFT-level technological innovations. Currently promoted technologies like RWA, prediction markets, stablecoins, and payments cannot solve the fundamental problems of regulation and large-scale application. Therefore, the notion that cryptocurrency is merely a giant casino is beginning to emerge. This statement reveals the underlying reason why cryptocurrencies were not accepted by sovereign states in the past: fulfilling the wealth fantasies of a select few. However, I don't believe this is the whole truth. The industry is currently controlled by leading financial institutions, but its future lies in the hands of Satoshi Nakamoto and Vitalik Buterin. I will continue to await the ChatGPT moment for cryptocurrencies.
1912212.eth: More and more malicious actors are exploiting market liquidity with impunity, disregarding their unethical behavior. The massive crash on October 11th had a devastating impact on the industry. BTC remains Bitcoin, but most other Altcoin may never regain market favor.
KarenZ: Exchanges are evolving into a "super app" ecosystem, encompassing spot trading, derivatives, wallets, DeFi, IPOs, and stock tokenization. Stripe, Mastercard, and Ripple are vying for control of stablecoin infrastructure. Regulatory frameworks for cryptocurrencies are becoming clearer in some countries/regions. The survival space for small and medium-sized projects is shrinking. Hot topics come and go quickly.
Nicky: In 2025, Bitcoin will hit a new all-time high, DAT companies will spring up everywhere, and even the president will release a meme! The passage of compliance standards such as the GENIUS Act will facilitate the transfer of off-balance-sheet assets to on-balance-sheet, helping to repair balance sheets. None of this has ever happened in history; we are witnessing history.
Luffy: The biggest change is that even though Bitcoin hit new highs this year, it still underperformed gold, US stocks, and even A-shares. Our past perception that cryptocurrencies are alpha assets may need to change.
Eric: The biggest change is probably that retail investors are starting to wake up and no longer blindly believe in unrealistic narratives. From an industry development perspective, this is a good thing, but it also means the industry will experience a period of growing pains. This growing pains stem from the end of a primitive era, but the new system is not yet fully established. However, this also means that rational value investing opportunities may be getting closer.
Chandler: chaotic, fragmented, fast-paced, emotional, and a speculative gamble.
angelilu: Institutional buying of Bitcoin ETFs has indeed driven up prices, but it has also made the market more like the stock market. Polymarket and Web3-related AI agents seem to be actually having some practical use. The retail investor FOMO model has been reshaped, and project teams are all thinking about how to achieve alpha. The myth of making 10x or 100x money on-chain is becoming increasingly rare.
Yobo: No change. In the early stages of industries with strong financial attributes, it's about constantly reenacting past events in seemingly new forms, but in the end, it still comes down to the core elements of finance.
The most promising sectors or stocks in 2026
What crypto sectors and stocks do you have the most confidence in for the coming year?
1912212.eth: Crypto + AI bots and prediction market sector.
KarenZ: RWA, payments, crypto & AI robots (Universal Tree Technologies going public?), and a mining company investing in AI and high-performance computing.
Nicky: Creator economy, prediction market.
Luffy: Stablecoins and prediction markets. The fact that stablecoins are the biggest use case for cryptocurrencies will not change, and their adoption in the traditional world will further expand; while the hype surrounding prediction markets ahead of Polymarket's launch will continue.
Eric: The most promising track is definitely the one that hasn't been seen yet, but I don't know which one it is.
Chandler: Real-world applications of stablecoins and some emerging combinations with AI.
angelilu: Prediction markets and AI agents, crypto payments.
Joe Zhou: Stablecoins, RWA, prediction markets, DEX, Depin, and other related sectors.
Yobo: Leading DeFi (Aave, Pendle), Bitcoin, and leading exchange platform tokens, it's a long-term choice that transcends economic cycles and is also a planned buy the dips option.
Anderson Sima: Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB.
Sanqing: The core of prediction markets lies in information aggregation and risk hedging, making them the future financial infrastructure. Polymarket's simultaneous IPO and token issuance is noteworthy. The RWA sector will see business growth as compliance efforts progress, but its token price performance may lag behind. Ethereum is strengthening its position as financial infrastructure through continuous upgrades, and the current market environment is different from the past. Perp DEX faces competitive pressure from centralized exchanges in terms of security, efficiency, rapid iteration, and user migration costs. It is also more vulnerable to front-end compliance and anti-money laundering regulations, putting pressure on its development prospects.
Expectations for Bitcoin and Ethereum in 2026
Can Ethereum outperform Bitcoin in 2026? What will be the highest prices for Bitcoin and Ethereum in 2026?
1912212.eth: No. Ethereum cannot outperform Bitcoin. Bitcoin may reach a maximum of $103,000 in 2026, while ETH may reach a maximum of $4,000.
KarenZ: Yes. Ethereum has a chance to outperform Bitcoin in 2026.
Nicky: Yes. Ethereum will outperform Bitcoin in 2026. Bitcoin will be worth $175,000, while Ethereum will be worth $10,000.
Sanqing: Yes. Ethereum, with its productivity and applicability, will surpass Bitcoin's scarcity. Ethereum is at $7,000, while Bitcoin is at $150,000.
Luffy: No. Market expectations for 2026 are not good; Ethereum will likely underperform Bitcoin in a bear market. Optimistically, I predict Bitcoin and Ethereum will reach highs of $120,000 and $4,000 respectively in 2026.
Eric: No. I predict it will drop, but I can't guess the exact point. I predict Ethereum will outperform Bitcoin in the next cycle, but not next year.
Chandler: No. I'm not optimistic about the market in 2026; Bitcoin at $100,000 and Ethereum at $4,100.
angelilu: Yes. If the application layer takes off, Ethereum has a chance; Bitcoin will reach $120,000-$150,000, and Ethereum $5,000.
Joe Zhou: Yes. I bet on Polymarket that Ethereum could reach $5,000 before gold, just wishful thinking.
Yobo: No. I'm bearish on Ethereum's price in the long term. ETH's price will remain relatively stable, which might be good for applications. Bitcoin is likely to test the bottom again next spring. The rest of 2026 will mainly be about bottoming out and restoring market sentiment. I'd guess the full-year range is (75,000-105,000, with the high at the beginning of the year and the low in March/April, followed by relative stability). I can't guess the Ethereum price.
Anderson Sima: No. They're even; Bitcoin is $150,000, Ethereum is $5,000.
Position disclosure
1912212.eth: USDT
KarenZ: USDT, ETH, ENA, Aster
Nicky: USDT
Sanqing: Plume, MON, OKB, MNT, ETH Options
Luffy: BTC, BNB
Chandler: USDT, BTC
angelilu: BTC, ETH, USDT
Yobo: BTC, BNB, PENDLE, CRV, SUI, APT
Joe Zhou: BTC, ETH, HSK, JESSE
Anderson Sima: BTC, ETH
Eric: None
