Ryan Rasmussen, Head of Research at Bitwise, used a Yahoo Finance appearance 
to restate Bitwise’s view that Bitcoin is headed to $200,000 in 2026, while 
simultaneously characterizing the current sell-off as a maturing-market 
shakeout rather than a trend break. Is The Bottom In For Bitcoin? He opened 
with a near-term assessment that “we&#8217;re closer to the bottom here today than 
we have been for the past few weeks,” linking the drawdown to sharply risk-off 
conditions and to ETF-era flow dynamics. In his framing, Bitcoin “really was a 
leader of this risk-off move starting in mid-October,” and he expects it to 
“be a leader to the upside once things start to turn around,” adding that the 
market feels nearer to that inflection than it did “a week or two weeks ago.” 
When asked whether spot Bitcoin ETFs have become a double-edged sword, 
Rasmussen agreed, describing a market that now has deeper liquidity but more 
cross-currents. “Bitcoin, in our view, is one of the biggest technological 
developments of the past 15 years,” he said, before explaining that 
institutionalization brings “new investors and adds more liquidity to the 
market,” yet also means “we&#8217;re seeing a lot more choppiness in times where 
risk-off moves happen.” He pointed to hedge funds rotating in and out via 
basis trades and emphasized that “you just have more market participants.” 
Over time, he expects that shift to damp volatility, but not in a straight 
line: “throughout that journey, we&#8217;re going to see some choppiness, and 
certainly over the past month, we&#8217;ve seen that.” Related Reading: Will Bitcoin 
Bottom At $56,000? CryptoQuant CEO Presents The Data Pressed on why volatility 
still looks elevated, Rasmussen separated short-horizon spikes from long-run 
trend. “If you look at the trend over the past 10 years, volatility has 
certainly been falling,” he said, but conceded that “over this short-term 
period, you do see spikes in volatility.” The composition of buyers is, in his 
view, changing in a stabilizing direction. “The buyers for Bitcoin that we&#8217;re 
seeing come into the market today are more long-term buyers than we&#8217;ve seen in 
the past,” he said, naming wealth managers and financial advisors who “are 
adding Bitcoin to model portfolios” and “rebalancing on a standard basis.” 
That institutional style of demand “should all reduce volatility, add more 
long-term demand,” though he also noted a counterweight: corporate treasury 
buying that was strong earlier in the year has faded. “The corporate 
treasuries that are purchasing Bitcoin were coming in in size earlier this 
year, and that&#8217;s really dried up,” he said, arguing that this demand pause is 
“in part due to this sell-off that we&#8217;ve seen in October.” Bitcoin Still Set 
for $200,000 By 2026 Rasmussen acknowledged the pain of lower prices for 
recent buyers, but insisted the medium-term path remains higher. “Lower prices 
are a gift and a curse, of course,” he said. “A lot of investors are feeling 
pain right now who bought Bitcoin above $100,000 or closer to the $125,000 
mark, but we believe that Bitcoin&#8217;s going to end the year higher than it is 
today.” He reiterated that the short-term bottoming process is likely 
advanced, and then pivoted to his structural thesis: “Institutions are finally 
here.” He stressed that adoption is gradual rather than instantaneous: “That 
doesn&#8217;t mean that right away they deploy all of their capital.” Even so, he 
cited early signals such as endowment participation: “even Harvard, we saw 
with their recent filing, is buying Bitcoin in their endowment.” Related 
Reading: Bitcoin Capitulation Deepens Around $90K Level: Classic Late-Stage 
Fear Structure Emerging On macro, Rasmussen conceded an irony that an asset 
marketed as sovereign and untethered now reacts to central-bank expectations. 
Post-COVID, he said, Bitcoin has traded in a “fiscally-dominated environment 
where rate cuts and other macro elements do play more of a role,” and 
correlations to equities have “spike[d] or raise[d].” Still, he argued 
correlations are drifting back toward historical lows, and he emphasized 
Bitcoin’s tendency to do well in “low rate environments and risk on 
environments.” Regarding the December Fed meeting, he said “no cut in December 
is largely priced into the market,” and suggested investors have “already 
started to turn to 2026.” The price target itself was stated unambiguously. 
“So this year, we had a price target of $200,000. And I think it&#8217;s safe to say 
that come December, that&#8217;s not going to happen. But we do believe that in 
2026, Bitcoin will hit $200,000,” Rasmussen said. He attributed that forecast 
to institutional inflows arriving “in waves,” spanning “wealth managers or 
endowments or pensions or corporations or governments,” which he believes are 
creating “a systemic imbalance of demand versus supply.” At press time, BTC 
traded at $91,205. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from 
TradingView.com

Why Bitwise Thinks Bitcoin Still Hits $200,000 In 2026

Bitcoiners viewed US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s appearance at the 
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Grok couldn’t stop singing Elon Musk’s praises, arguing he could beat Mike 
Tyson in a fight and was fitter than NBA superstar LeBron James.

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XRP price started a fresh decline below $2.050. The price is now struggling 
and faces resistance near the $2.050 pivot level. XRP price started a fresh 
decline below the $2.050 zone. The price is now trading below $2.050 and the 
100-hourly Simple Moving Average. There is a bearish trend line forming with 
resistance at $2.080 on the hourly chart of the XRP/USD pair (data source from 
Kraken). The pair could continue to move down if it settles below $2.00. XRP 
Price Dips Further XRP price attempted a recovery wave above $2.120 but failed 
to continue higher, like Bitcoin and Ethereum. The price started a fresh 
decline below $2.050 and $2.020. There was a move below the $2.00 support 
level. A low was formed at $1.957, and the price is now consolidating losses 
below the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the downward move from the $2.141 
swing high to the $1.9575 low. The price is now trading below $2.050 and the 
100-hourly Simple Moving Average. If there is a fresh upward move, the price 
might face resistance near the $2.050 level and the 50% Fib retracement level 
of the downward move from the $2.141 swing high to the $1.9575 low. The first 
major resistance is near the $2.080 level. There is also a bearish trend line 
forming with resistance at $2.080 on the hourly chart of the XRP/USD pair. A 
close above $2.080 could send the price to $2.120. The next hurdle sits at 
$2.150. A clear move above the $2.150 resistance might send the price toward 
the $2.20 resistance. Any more gains might send the price toward the $2.250 
resistance. The next major hurdle for the bulls might be near $2.320. More 
Losses? If XRP fails to clear the $2.080 resistance zone, it could start a 
fresh decline. Initial support on the downside is near the $1.950 level. The 
next major support is near the $1.920 level. If there is a downside break and 
a close below the $1.920 level, the price might continue to decline toward 
$1.880. The next major support sits near the $1.8450 zone, below which the 
price could continue lower toward $1.80. Technical Indicators Hourly MACD – 
The MACD for XRP/USD is now gaining pace in the bearish zone. Hourly RSI 
(Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for XRP/USD is now below the 50 level. 
Major Support Levels – $1.950 and $1.920. Major Resistance Levels – $2.050 and 
$2.080.

XRP Price Extends Losses, Deepens Move Below $2.0 Amid Softer Sentiment

Bitmine continues its Ethereum buying spree while chairman Tom Lee warns that 
crypto markets are still struggling with weak market maker liquidity. Bitmine 
has purchased another 17,242 ETH, worth about $49 million, according to data 
shared by analytics firm Onchain…

Cryptocurrency price in USD