21Shares slashes crypto forecasts despite rising institutional demand
21Shares has cut several of its 2026 crypto forecasts, saying institutional adoption has continued to grow even as weaker prices and slower enterprise adoption have delayed parts of the industrys recovery. According to 21Shares midyear outlook, the digital asset industry has continued to build stronger infrastructure despite a difficult market environment. The asset manager said progress in areas including exchange-traded funds, stablecoin regulation, tokenization, and prediction markets has exceeded what recent price action suggests. Even so, weaker crypto prices, major decentralized finance exploits, and slower enterprise adoption have prompted the firm to reduce several expectations it had set earlier this year. The report argues that institutional participation has increased without changing Bitcoins long-established market structure. According to 21Shares, Bitcoin reached roughly $126,000 in October 2025 before entering a decline that has largely followed historical post-halving patterns. While larger institutional ownership has reduced the severity of drawdowns, the firm said the four-year market cycle remains intact. Former 21Shares co-founder Ophelia Snyder, who left the company after its acquisition by FalconX in 2025, recently expressed a similar view in a Substack post. Snyder wrote that cryptos investor base has become more institutional and increasingly tied to the wider financial system, making prices more responsive to macroeconomic developments,