The investment company 21Shares in its market report admitted that its forecasts for the development of cryptocurrency in 2026 were not fulfilled. Analysts expected to complete the four-year Bitcoin cycle this year. After reaching a historic high of $126,198 in October 2025, the first cryptocurrency was 52% cheaper, trading around $60,000. Although the current downturn looks 80% milder than previous collapses, thanks to institutional investors' support through spot-on exchange funds, capital inflows into these instruments have been well below the expected $400 billion.

The expectations for the volume of assets in cryptoproducts traded on exchanges have also not been met. While analysts predicted $250 billion by early 2026, by May the figure had fallen to $140 billion, of which Bitcoin funds account for about $110 billion. Failure and forecast of the Stablecoins market. Despite the passage of the GENIUS law in the United States and the entry into force of the European MiCA regulation at the beginning of 2025, total segment capitalization amounted to only about $320 billion - exactly one-third of the expected trillion. Only 14 issuers have complied with strict regulatory requirements so far.

The same is true of decentralized finance. The expected amount of funds blocked should have been more than $300 billion, but the actual figure is about $140 billion. Experts attribute this to a sharp rise in hacker attacks, with 50 incidents causing projects to lose more than $840 million since the beginning of the year, up 70% from the same period last year. One of the largest attacks in April was an attack on the EigenLayer ecosystem’s Kelp protocol, resulting in $293 million stolen by North Korean Lazarus group attackers.