'No Crypto Bull Run Until 2026,' Top Exec Says Despite Recent Market Resurgence

• Token Metrics CEO Ian Balina believes the crypto market correction is not over despite recent market optimism.
• Balina has advocated for cryptocurrency market participants to focus on building positions in blue chips.
• Balina is not alone in his view.

While cryptocurrencies have struggled to establish the bullish momentum that many hoped for this year, price action that has seen Bitcoin erase year-to-date losses this week has reignited optimism and talk of a market surge to new highs.

Amid this positive chatter, one crypto executive is going against the grain. Ian Balina, CEO of AI-powered cryptocurrency investment firm Token Metrics, has maintained that the cryptocurrency market correction is not over. In an email interview with Benzinga on Thursday, Balina discussed the reasons for his view, what he believes investors should look out for, and how they should approach the current market.

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A Delayed Run

According to Balina, “the next crypto bull run has been delayed and won’t peak until 2026.” When asked why he held this view, he pointed to current macroeconomic conditions.

“We were on track for a strong run post-Bitcoin halving, but the macro environment such as the current interest rates in the U.S., global uncertainty, and risk-off sentiment have tempered momentum,” he said. 

“Liquidity is still tight, and institutional money hasn’t fully rotated back in, yet. We still believe the bull market is coming, and could even begin this year, but we don’t expect it to peak until 2026. There’ll be corrections along the way. It’s not gone, just postponed.” 

Balina said that evidence of the broad risk-off sentiment remained visible in the market.

“Price action, sentiment, and smart money aren’t lining up yet. Altcoins are still weak. Retail’s hesitant. Our Al models at Token Metrics show we’re still in a cooling phase. Until we see conviction in both volume and behavior, we’re not out of this chop,” he said.

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At the same time, Balina’s views have not been impacted by the recent talk of Bitcoin decoupling from traditional equities. For context, despite continued market uncertainty, the leading digital asset has recorded significant gains this week and is now trading at an almost 2% gain year-to-date and over 15% gain since April 2 when President Donald Trump announced his  “Liberation Day” tariffs. On the contrary, the S&P 500 is down roughly 7% year-to-date and nearly 4% since Liberation Day. Similarly, the Nasdaq is down nearly 8% year-to-date, though up 3% since Liberation Day.

But Balina suggested it was too early to celebrate when asked whether this emerging market dynamic has impacted his perspective.

“It’s promising, long term. But I don’t think we’ve fully decoupled yet. One breakout doesn’t equal a new trend. Real decoupling means sustained strength. We’re not there yet.”

Balina said market participants should look for “strong altcoin breakouts, rising stablecoin inflows, and retail coming back in” before declaring the correction over.

In the meantime, he said, market participants should focus on building positions in blue-chip cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. 

“This is where generational wealth gets built during quiet markets,” he said.

Balina’s insistence that the recent cryptocurrency market correction is not over echoes sentiments from CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju. In March, Young Ju said the Bitcoin bull market was over, citing various on-chain metrics. On Wednesday, he said he would admit he was wrong if Bitcoin breached the $100,000 price point.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $95,000.

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