Snapshot
▼ Grayscale Research says the usual “four-year bitcoin cycle” might not hold anymore and they believe BTC could hit fresh all-time highs in 2026.
▼Meanwhile, Vanguard has finally changed its anti-crypto stance. Starting Tuesday, it will let investors trade ETFs and mutual funds focused on BTC, ETH, XRP, and SOL, according to Bloomberg.
The crypto market bounced back above $3 trillion as bitcoin recovered from Monday’s drop and moved past $91,000 again, helped by the “Vanguard effect” and growing expectations of Fed rate cuts.
Grayscale expects bitcoin to hit new highs in 2026, Vanguard is opening crypto ETF trading, and Bank of America is now recommending a 4% crypto allocation. At the same time, BlackRock’s Larry Fink and Rob Goldstein say tokenization could transform finance the same way the early internet transformed information. Kraken is also pushing into tokenization by planning to acquire Backed Finance, the company behind xStocks issuer Backed Finance in its own tokenization push.
Grayscale says bitcoin could hit new record highs in 2026 and rejects the usual 4-year cycle idea.
They argue the recent 32% price dip is normal for a bull market not the start of a long downturn and note that this cycle is different because big institutional investors, not retail traders, are driving the market through ETFs and corporate holdings.They also point to supportive factors like possible U.S. interest-rate cuts and growing bipartisan support for crypto laws.
BitMine’s Tom Lee agrees, saying bitcoin’s fundamentals are stronger than its price and predicting a new all-time high as soon as January.
Vanguard will now let its customers trade investment funds that hold cryptocurrencies like BTC, ETH, XRP, and SOL.
Vanguard has flipped its long-time anti-crypto stance and will now let customers trade ETFs and mutual funds that hold Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and Solana starting Tuesday, according to Bloomberg.
The change comes after growing pressure from both retail and institutional clients, and after months of internal review. Vanguard says crypto funds have shown strength through volatility and that the industry’s infrastructure is now mature enough to support them.
This shift gives more than 50 million Vanguard users access to crypto exposure and arrives just as analysts expect a wave of new crypto ETFs to launch soon.
Bank of America will now let clients put up to 4% of their portfolios into crypto ending adviser limits and officially adding support for Bitcoin ETFs.
Bank of America will now allow Merrill Private Bank and Merrill Edge clients to invest 1% to 4% of their portfolios in crypto removing long-standing restrictions that prevented advisers from recommending it.
This restriction had kept over 15,000 advisers from offering crypto during a time of growing demand.Starting January 5, BoA’s CIO will also cover spot Bitcoin ETFs from BlackRock, Bitwise, Fidelity and Grayscale formally including crypto in its investment options.
Private Bank CIO Chris Hyzy said a small crypto allocation “may be appropriate” for clients who can handle volatility, putting BoA in line with firms like Morgan Stanley, BlackRock, and Fidelity.
This launch adds to Grayscale’s growing list of crypto ETFs which already include XRP, Dogecoin and Solana with a Zcash ETF still in the works.
Grayscale launched the first Chainlink ETF, GLNK by converting its $17 million Chainlink Trust into the new ETF on NYSE Arca. The firm says Chainlink’s oracle network is becoming key for DeFi and tokenization, providing essential data and cross-chain connectivity.
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