As 2025 draws to a close, it’s worth pausing to reflect on what has truly shaped this cycle. This piece continues thoughts on years 2025 and 2026 shared earlier this year, adding perspective as we turn our eyes to 2026.
While Bitcoin indeed dominated much of 2025 until recently, we’ve finally seen a much-deserved resurgence of Ethereum. The network once again upgraded flawlessly, further amplifying its ultimate aim: positioning ETH as digital oil. Additionally, low-risk defi continues to refine itself as one of the L1’s most valuable properties, both functionally and economically.
I mentioned before that as Bitcoin approaches $1M, a shift toward denominating in Satoshis (Sats) rather than BTC may occur. I was referring to future cycles, as noted, “discussions around this transition will likely intensify starting in 2028” [or later].
Before that potential shift, however, more critical developments will unfold. Resistance to the Quantum threat is high on that list, and as a community, we must come together to discuss the proposed solutions (I, II, …).
Actionable step: if your BTC address type is deemed high-risk (P2PK), consider moving your funds. You can check your exposure via Quantumrekt or Project11.
The strategy around chain-agnostic tokens remains sound and relevant for the foreseeable future, with Chainlink and stablecoins leading the charge. With few exceptions, most of DeFi has stagnated while still evolving beneath the surface. NFTs weren’t as fortunate, aside from CryptoPunks, which found a permanent home with NODE.
We’ll skip this year’s “Strategy-like accumulation” trend, which spread everywhere but is now fading as quickly as it emerged. The real long-term winner remains stablecoins’ global adoption and their supporting infrastructure, which has always been a core focus of our insights.
There’s still room for growth in privacy coins, given the rise of mass surveillance. On that note, I agree with Frank Braun’s excellent thesis on Zcash. In fact, I hinted at this in our January 2025 newsletter:
“As an investor: beyond chain-agnostic tokens, look for strong technology projects with sustainable, long-term development. Zcash, for instance, remains under-appreciated but could see a resurgence.”
To be clear, I didn’t foresee Zcash (ZEC) delivering a 500% return this year, that quickly. Still, it’s encouraging to see the market reevaluating under-appreciated technologies, particularly those centered on privacy. Other notable coins in this category, though operating at a second-order level (Ethereum Layer 2), include Railgun (RAIL), Starknet (STRK), and ZKsync (ZK).
Finally, and this is the main reason for this follow up as we enter the last months of 2025: keep in mind the thoughts about 2026, its potential challenges and opportunities. Every cycle needs a breathing period.
Announcing 10102 Labs, Beta going live, and more
We’re introducing 10102 Labs, a new section of our Insights dedicated exclusively to 10102 development updates, including new content and application features. This separation will help keep market insights and development updates distinct, allowing readers to subscribe to either or both.
As a reminder, our decentralized application is designed to preserve digital assets forever, enabling users to build a true digital legacy through conditional contracts for beneficiaries, customizable timelocks, locked gifts, and more.
The beta version of the application will go live this week. As promised, all those who subscribed to the join-beta form have been flagged as pioneers, whom special perks are to be finalized and communicated in the near future.
We’ve partnered with CD Security for auditing the smart contracts: all identified concerns have been resolved, and the final audit report has been published.
Closing notes
It’s heartening to see justice served — with Ross Ulbricht granted a full and unconditional pardon by President Donald Trump, and CZ also seeing resolution.
Sadly, Dan Hughes (Fuserleer on Bitcointalk), the OG Bitcoiner and founder of Radix, left us. RIP.
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