Crypto Market Review (Q1 2026)

There’s a unique tension in the crypto market right now.

On the one hand, things look great: Wall Street is moving onchain, regulators are setting clearer rules, and institutions are allocating. If you want to put yourself in a bullish mood, just flip to p.6 in this report and read the “10 Noteworthy Developments in Q1.” It’s an incredible list.

And yet some of Q1’s data is bleak. All 10 of the largest crypto assets fell, crypto’s correlation with stocks spiked, and core metrics like active addresses, transaction activity, and trading volume all remained off their highs.

How do you explain the tension? The two viewpoints are looking in different directions.

The data in this report is backward-looking, and Q1 was indeed challenging for crypto investors. But the news flow in this report is forward-looking, offering strong reasons to believe the underlying data will improve.

In fact, if you look closely enough, you can already see some signs of this happening:

• Stablecoin AUM is at a new high

• Tokenized real-world assets are on the rise

• Stablecoin transaction activity is lapping Visa

This is exactly what it feels like toward the end of bear markets. Prices are down and fundamental data is weak … but smart people are starting to build again.

If you squint at the data, you can start to see the outlines of the new bull market.