Wintermute analysts predicted the end of the "hype era" in the crypto market - ForkLog: cryptocurrencies, AI, singularity, the future

# Analysts from Wintermute predict the end of the “hype era” in the crypto market

By 2026, cryptocurrencies will shed their speculative image and become the fundamental financial and settlement layer for the entire internet, according to analysts at Wintermute Ventures.

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— Wintermute Ventures (@wmt_ventures) January 28, 2026

“Digital assets have long existed in isolation — within blockchains detached from the real economy. Now, this barrier is breaking down. Cryptocurrencies are transforming into a universal clearing and settlement layer — the very infrastructure that the internet has been missing,” — noted the analysts

Everything becomes tradable

According to Wintermute’s forecasts, the boundaries of financial markets will dissolve: events, their outcomes, and even information will become tradable. This will provide liquidity to sectors that have historically operated outside exchange mechanisms.

Key drivers in this direction will include:

• Prediction markets. They will transform probabilities — from election outcomes to startup success — into liquid financial instruments;
• Evolution of insurance. Instead of standard policies, users will be able to hedge narrowly focused risks. For example, protecting against wind speed exceeding a certain threshold on a specific farm within 48 hours.

“As the infrastructure of prediction platforms scales, entirely new categories of data-driven products will emerge, based on topics that have never before been market-rated. We expect markets designed for trading and quantitatively assessing objective measures of perception, sentiment, and collective opinion,” — emphasized the analysts

New tools will organically complement the DeFi sector, creating new opportunities for data assessment and exchange, they added.

Stablecoins as the new standard of settlement

“Stablecoins” are becoming the main payment method in the digital economy, Wintermute indicated.

However, fragmentation hampers the development of this segment. According to experts, there is an “obvious market need” for a unified platform capable of consolidating settlements across various stablecoins for all asset categories.

“The missing link is transferring conversion risks and credit risks to stablecoin issuers through compatibility based on balances, instead of forcing end-users to manage currency operations, routing, or counterparty risks during stablecoin transactions,” — stated the experts

An on-chain equivalent of the correspondent banking system will be the optimal solution. Risks in this model are borne by fiat asset issuers, and settlements between counterparties are executed almost instantly.

The end of the “hype era”

This year, the speculative frenzy around cryptocurrencies will decline, analysts believe. Asset valuation will increasingly rely on sustainable financial metrics rather than short-term hype.

Investors will stop trusting projects that turn one-time fee spikes into annual figures.

“Projects whose tokens do not demonstrate a realistic path to creating and maintaining value will not be able to sustain long-term demand after the speculative interest is exhausted,” — emphasized Wintermute.

This will lead to strategic changes: fewer startups will consider launching a coin as an initial step.

Instead of early token sales, projects will prefer the traditional venture model with equity financing. Blockchain in this model will become an efficient infrastructural technology hidden from the user.

Issuance of a native asset — if it is even needed — will be the culmination of product development, not an entry point.

Merging DeFi and Fintech

According to experts, the future of finance lies not in the opposition between DeFi and traditional finance, but in their integration into a single ecosystem.

“Dual-mechanism architectures will allow fintech applications to dynamically choose transaction routes based on the optimal balance of cost, execution speed, and potential yield,” — explained the companies.

For users, crypto products will become indistinguishable from familiar applications. Technical details like wallet management or interaction with specific blockchains will be hidden behind an intuitive interface.

Regulation

The emergence of regulatory frameworks — MiCA in Europe or the Gensler Act in the US — provides clear rules for institutional players. Regulatory clarity allows replacing outdated financial systems with high-speed blockchain infrastructure.

“In 2026, the discussion will shift: the question will no longer be whether institutions can use blockchains, but how exactly they use these guidelines to modernize their infrastructure and transition to efficient on-chain systems,” — noted Wintermute.

Regions combining clear rules and rapid approval will attract capital, talent, and experimentation, accelerating the mass adoption of cryptocurrencies, the experts summarized.

Recall that in January, market maker analysts pointed to liquidity concentration in Bitcoin and Ethereum.