Let’s start with the obvious: Bitcoin has pulled back from its all-time highs. Bitcoin started 2026 trading in the $88,000- $92,000 range – roughly 25 per cent below its October 2025 peak near $126,000. Cue the usual headlines – froth is out, momentum’s dead, here come the eulogies.
But let’s be clear: this is not the end of the bull case. Not even close.
What we’re seeing is not a loss of conviction – it’s a leverage wash-out. Nearly $19 billion in liquidations have flushed out short-term traders, but there’s been no meaningful exodus of long-term holders. No institutional panic. No structural selling. Just volatility doing what volatility does in every market cycle
The market is now showing clear signs of renewed bullish momentum.
Recent upside appears to have been driven in part by market chatter around potential Iranian-linked Bitcoin buying, which has acted as a near-term catalyst.
Beyond that, the market has bottomed out and failed to make lower lows following the recent sell-off – a constructive signal that selling pressure is easing.
But looking beyond the daily price action, something far more important is happening under the surface: the infrastructure underpinning Bitcoin’s institutional adoption is solidifying.
Vanguard, Fidelity, Charles Schwab and BlackRock’s iShares are all now supporting Bitcoin exchange-traded products on core brokerage platforms. This isn’t about retail speculation. These are wealth managers and institutional allocators -some of the largest asset allocators on the planet now integrating Bitcoin into the machinery of long-term portfolio construction. They don’t care about price action over recent weeks or months. They care about what fits into a multi-decade allocation framework. And now, they’re saying Bitcoin does.
As of late 2025, global Bitcoin ETF assets under management have climbed into the range of roughly $160 billion Why? Because Bitcoin is finally being recognised for what it is: a store of value for a fractured world.
Let’s talk about that phrase – “store of value.” People don’t park capital for fun. They do it to defend against risk: inflation, currency debasement, political instability, geopolitical shocks. Bonds used to offer that protection. Gold still does to a point. But Bitcoin brings something radically new: a digitally native, provably scarce, globally liquid hedge that lives outside any single nation-state’s monetary policy.
Critics still insist Bitcoin has no value because it produces no cash flows. No yield. Nothing to discount. That argument sounds rigorous, but it’s intellectually lazy. All asset valuation, at its core, rests on human behaviour and collective belief. Coca Cola’s valuation depends on the assumption that people will keep buying sugary drinks. That demand funds supply chains, factories, dividends and jobs, but if preferences changed tomorrow those cash flows would evaporate. Such is the nature of value that is ‘behavioural.’
Many investors still underestimate Bitcoin’s ‘network effect’ – its ability to compound belief into value. But this is what is increasingly being recognised by large institutional allocators. In decentralised systems, value doesn’t grow linearly but compounds with adoption. Each new participant -whether a holder, custodian, miner or institution – enhances resilience, market sophistication and reinforces credibility for every other participant. This dynamic means adoption drives value, and value drives further adoption.
This isn’t unique to Bitcoin. All monetary systems – gold and fiat currencies included – derive their worth from shared acceptance. As the network grows, volatility matures, institutional comfort rises, and the asset begins to behave less like a speculative trade and more like a macro hedge.
What is unique is how we could see this compounding translate to accelerated price appreciation. Bitcoin, by design, has a fixed supply of 21 million coins. This alone creates a scarcity effect rarely seen in strategic assets. In addition, the shift to longer term institutional buyers means the holders of available supply are also less likely to be sellers – this is a strategic component of their portfolio. This means as buying interest increases there will likely be less sellers – cue bitcoin higher.
Institutional adoption of Bitcoin is accelerating fast. More than two-thirds (68 per cent) of institutional investors have already invested in or plan to invest in Bitcoin ETPs, while 86 per cent say they either already hold digital assets or intend to allocate. Globally, crypto ETF assets under management have surged to over $191 billion, signalling that digital assets are no longer fringe but that they’re becoming foundational. Beyond ETFs, the narrative is also supported by on-chain and corporate adoption trends. A growing cohort of publicly traded companies now hold Bitcoin on their balance sheets. Estimates suggest well over 170 such firms with combined holdings approaching 1 million BTC, or roughly 5 per cent of circulating supply.
So the evidence is in: the valuation debate is shifting. Investors are broadening their definition of “value” beyond cash yielding assets and are beginning to assess Bitcoin the same way they assess other asset classes: by scale, adoption and resilience.
Seen through that lens, Bitcoin is no longer a curiosity. It is an emerging monetary asset whose value is being forged through adoption. And as institutional participation deepens, that network effect may prove to be the most powerful driver of the next leg of the Bitcoin bull market.
Back to prices: we remain bullish from here. A sustained break above US$95,000 would likely open the door to a move above US$100,000. Price action looks increasingly constructive, supported by the macro view of growing institutional participation as regulatory clarity continues to improve.
We’re also seeing a quiet but powerful shift in how Bitcoin is being positioned. It’s no longer just a hedge against monetary debasement but it’s becoming a benchmark for digital monetary credibility. Institutional investors increasingly view Bitcoin not in isolation, but as the base layer of a broader digital asset ecosystem. And that ecosystem (which also encompasses tokenised real-world assets, stablecoins, and decentralised infrastructure) will rely on trusted, decentralised collateral to function.
That’s where Bitcoin’s role becomes even more important. It’s not just a store of value but is emerging as collateral for a future financial system. As tokenisation gains traction, demand for censorship-resistant, transparent collateral will only grow. This is the longer game being played, and Bitcoin sits at the heart of it.
Bitcoin doesn’t need to replace fiat. It doesn’t need to win every narrative. It just needs to exist as an option. And it’s doing that – louder and more credibly every year.
So here’s the message: stay the course.
Ignore the noise. Zoom out. The macro case has never looked better. Infrastructure is maturing. Regulatory clarity is improving. Mindsets are shifting. And Bitcoin remains one of the most asymmetric opportunities in global markets today – not just for short-term speculation but as a strategic portfolio component in a world where traditional hedges have shown their limitations.
Don’t be the last to get that memo.
By Edward Carroll, head of MHC Markets at MHC Digital Group
