Bitcoin Could Continue to Rise in 2026, According to Bernstein

As the White House promotes crypto on Capitol Hill, it is becoming increasingly unlikely to see the market peak this year, analysts from investment firm Bernstein stated on Tuesday.

President Donald Trump’s efforts to shape America into the ‘global crypto capital’ appear critical to the mission, they wrote, suggesting that the bull market for bitcoin and other digital assets will continue into 2026, with prices potentially peaking next year.

The price of bitcoin could reach between $150,000 and $200,000, and the market is likely to turn around in six months to a year, the analysts wrote.

On Wednesday, the largest cryptocurrency was trading around $113,000, a decline of 5.5% over the past seven days, according to crypto data provider CoinGecko. Bitcoin set a new all-time high above $124,000 last week before falling.

Bernstein analysts acknowledged that performance would be a deviation from the four-year cycles that bitcoin’s price has historically followed, peaking at $69,000 in 2021 and $20,000 in 2017.

Trump’s acceptance of cryptocurrencies could break the four-year cycles of bitcoin, but experts have made similar calls when pointing to structural changes in the bitcoin market stemming from last year’s launch of U.S. ETFs.

Bernstein analysts also predict that the so-called altcoin season will be true this time, reflecting past market cycles.

As the crypto market is poised for growth by the end of this year, analysts forecast that ethereum and solana could potentially lead the next leg of the digital asset cycle, with declining interest rates boosting risk appetite and renewed focus on decentralized finance and roles. They did not provide target prices for any cryptocurrency in the note from Tuesday.

DeFi gained momentum in 2020, becoming a multi-billion dollar industry almost overnight, as pandemic-era cryptocurrency users established concepts like yield generation, and projects launched governance tokens.

As on-chain yields return to focus, Bernstein analysts wrote that treasury firms for digital assets built around ethereum and solana will continue to grow. Unlike their bitcoin-buying counterparts, these firms can engage in activities like staking to earn yield.

Bernstein analysts identified Robinhood as one company that has managed to make its business model ‘predictable’ with crypto. The brokerage firm focused on retail investors began allowing U.S. clients to stake digital assets in June, reducing the company’s reliance on volatile trading revenues, they said. As a result, Bernstein analysts raised their price target for Robinhood shares to $160 from $105.