Wall Street broker Bernstein said 2026 will likely mark the start of a tokenization “supercycle,” with digital assets likely bottoming out after a weak end to 2025, making market declines an opportunity to add exposure to crypto-related stocks.
The brokerage says sentiment weakened late last year, but the underlying fundamentals remain intact, analysts led by Gautam Chhugani wrote in a report published Tuesday.
Bernstein maintains his bitcoin forecast of $150,000 in 2026, with a target of $200,000 for the peak of the next market cycle in 2027.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency was trading around $91,600 at press time.
While Bitcoin finished 2025 down about 6%, the report noted that crypto stocks had their best year on record, averaging returns of about 59% despite cooling in the fourth quarter.
Robinhood (HOOD), Coinbase (COIN), Figure (FIGR), and Circle (CRCL) are the “top tokenization proxies” with company coverage, according to the report.
Analysts cut their Circle price target from $230 to $190. Shares were down 4% in early trading at $81.35. The broker also reduced its Coinbase price target from $510 to $440. The stock was down 3.3% at $242.62.
The next phase of growth will be driven by tokenization on several fronts, analysts said.
Stablecoins, in particular, appear to be moving beyond cryptocurrency trading to traditional banking and payments. Analysts expect total supply to grow 56% year-on-year to around $420 billion by 2026, supported by cross-border trade payments, consumer remittances, stablecoin-based neobanks and so-called agent payments.
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies linked to assets such as fiat currencies or gold. They support much of the crypto economy, serving as payment channels and a tool for moving money across borders. USDT is the largest stablecoin, followed by USDC.
Bernstein pointed to growing adoption by fintech companies like Block (XYZ), Revolut, and PayPal (PYPL), as well as the expansion of agent payment protocols like the X402 built by Coinbase, which already tracks an annualized trading volume of around $300 million.
Tokenization, the process by which real-world assets are converted into blockchain-based tokens, is another major pillar of the analysts’ thesis. They estimated that the on-chain value locked in tokenized assets could more than double, from around $37 billion in 2025 to around $80 billion in 2026.
Prediction markets complement the company’s tokenization prospects. The broker projects that total volumes could increase 100% in 2026 to around $70 billion, which would imply around $1.4 billion in annual revenue for market makers and exchanges, based on average contract fees.
Learn more: Citi still believes in crypto stocks despite Bitcoin being rocked to end the year
