1. San Lorenzo Gold (TSXV:SLG)

Year-to-date gain: 641.18 percent
Market cap: C$55.06 million
Share price: C$0.80

San Lorenzo Gold is an exploration company working to advance its Salvadora project in the Chañaral province of Chile. The property consists of 25 exploration and nine exploitation concessions covering an area of 8,796 hectares, and hosts a large copper and gold porphyry system with several significant targets.

According to the project page, the site geology resembles that of the nearby Codelco-owned Salvador copper mine, which has operated since the early 1950s and is expected to continue until the mid-2060s following an expansion.

San Lorenzo’s share price gained significantly in the first quarter starting on March 3, when the company announced a significant discovery hole, the first of three holes drilled at Salvadora’s Cerro Blanco gold-copper target.

The discovery hole demonstrated an average grade of 1.04 grams per metric ton (g/t) gold over a broad 153.5 meters starting at a depth of 229 meters, including an intersection grading 12.78 g/t gold over 3.8 meters.

The same day, it also released partial results for the first of three holes drilled at its Arco de Oro gold target. They returned multiple instances of high-grade gold, including 5.61 g/t gold over 6.6 meters at a depth of 15.7 meters and 4.8 g/t gold over 23.3 meters 174.4 meters from surface.

Assays for the remaining holes were released in mid-March and April, respectively. San Lorenzo released the most recent results from exploration on August 6, reporting that an induced polarization geophysical survey at Salvadora identified multiple prospective anomalies that would be the focus of its upcoming drill program.

San Lorenzo announced on September 24 that it initiated the aforementioned drill program, with plans in place for a minimum of three holes at Cerro Blanco and four holes at Arco de Oro.

After leveling out in Q2, company shares began gaining momentum in early August, largely continuing to move through the rest of Q3 and into Q4. Shares of San Lorenzo jumped to a year-to-date high of C$0.86 on October 23.

2. Prospector Metals (TSXV:PPP)

Year-to-date gain: 833.31 percent
Market cap: C$129.56 million
Share price: C$1.12

Prospector Metals is exploring its flagship ML gold project near Dawson City in Yukon, Canada.

The 10,869 hectare property is located within the Tintina Gold Belt, which hosts significant historic mining operations and current exploration and development projects. The ML project’s Skarn Ridge and North Vein targets were the focus of significant historical work through 2008, including 117 diamond drill holes. According to Prospector, historical work also led to the discovery of more than two dozen untested high-grade gold surface occurrences.

A maiden drill program at the site commenced on June 23, with the primary focus on the Bueno target, which delivered rock samples with grades up to 156 g/t during May 2025 exploration. The program will include testing of six targets, including Bueno, identified during the company’s 2024 exploration program.

After trending upwards throughout the year from their start of C$0.12, shares of Prospector surged from C$0.31 to C$1.17 when it reported the discovery of the new TESS gold-copper zone on October 1. The company reported a drill hole intersected the broad, high-grade zone, with an average grade of 13.79 g/t gold from 62 meters to 106 meters downhole, including 288 g/t over 1 meter within 21.93 g/t over 24.65 meters. The hole also intersected the North Vein zone from 138 meters to 145.36 meters downhole, over which it had an average grade of 5.69 g/t gold.

Prospector CEO Rob Carpenter said, “The discovery represents an exciting new style of gold mineralization for the ML project. The high-grade and near surface intercept occurs within a distinct zone that is coincident with a diagnostic surface geochemical signature.” He indicated that the company has traced the trend on the surface for at least 500 meters.

Shares of Prospector reached a year-to-date high of C$1.30 the following day.

On November 26, Prospector reported the final assays from its drill program, including an interval at the TESS Zone grading 7.29 g/t gold and 0.91 percent copper over 14 meters, as well as one in the Skarn Ridge Zone that graded 2.04 g/t gold and 0.42 percent copper over 27 meters. Carpenter said the company is planning a fully funded drill program to extend the zones along trend and test new targets.

3. PPX Mining (TSXV:PPX)

Year-to-date gain: 785.71 percent
Market cap: C$219.63 million
Share price: C$0.31

PPX Mining is a precious metals company that is focused on its Igor project, which contains the operating Callanquitas underground mine, located in the Otuzco province of Northern Peru.

An updated resource estimate for Callanquitas released by the company in January 2024 showed a measured and indicated oxide resource of 81,090 ounces of gold and 2.9 million ounces of silver. The inferred resource as sulfides stands at 34,450 gold equivalent ounces from ore grading 4.63 g/t gold equivalent.

According to a prefeasibility study for Igor amended in January 2022, the 1,300 hectare site previously hosted small-scale mining operations and holds a 50 MT per day gold-processing plant from the 1980s.

In November 2024, PPX started construction of a 350 metric ton per day carbon-in-leach and flotation plant that will be used to process oxide and sulfide ore from Callanquitas.

The latest construction update came on September 24, when the company said development was continuing at an accelerated pace while it worked on parallel activities. These advancements included the installation of leach tanks and the assembly of the crushing line. In all, the PPX reported that construction was 55 percent complete.

Meanwhile, exploration at Callanquitas carried on during the third quarter, with PPX reporting assay results on August 20. In that release, the company said it had encountered a highlighted grade of 3.55 g/t gold over 4.2 meters, which included an intersection of 5.16 g/t gold over 2 meters.

Additionally, PPX announced on September 11 that it had closed an upsized non-brokered private placement for gross proceeds of C$2.58 million, which will be used for ongoing exploration at Callanquitas.

The following month, the company announced a binding letter of intent with Glencore (LSE:GLEN,OTC Pink:GLCNF) for a strategic investment, offtake agreement and technical collaboration, which it closed in December.

The investment results in gross proceeds of C$19.92 million for PPX, which will be used to advance a variety of work at the project, including the construction, commissioning and start-up of the plant. Additionally, under the agreement, Glencore has the right to acquire 100 percent of precious metals concentrate from the Igor project and plant beginning once the plant is commissioned.

Shares of PPX Mining reached a year-to-date high of C$0.48 on October 8.

4. Pelangio Exploration (TSXV:PX)

Year-to-date gain: 728.57 percent
Market cap: C$56.03 million
Share price: C$0.29

Pelangio Exploration is a gold exploration company with projects in Ghana and Canada. In Ghana, it owns two large-scale gold projects, the Manfo property and the Obuasi property. The latter is located 4 kilometers along strike and adjacent to AngloGold Ashanti’s (NYSE:AU,JSE:ANG) high-grade Obuasi mine.

Much of Pelangio’s market moving news came in the second half of the year.

In July, the company kicked off a high-resolution aeromagnetic drone survey at its Manfo and Nkosuo deposits. The following month, Pelangio announced the completion of an updated mineral resource estimate for Manfo covering four gold deposits, including the Nkasu deposit, which was not included in the maiden resource estimate.

The updated resource shows a total indicated mineral resource of 441,000 ounces of gold at an average grade of 1.16 g/t gold, up 126 percent from the maiden resource estimate, and a total inferred mineral resource of 396,000 ounces of gold at an average grade of 0.77 g/t gold, up 395 percent.

In September, Pelangio shared its plans for a US$7.6 million staged exploration program including up to 45,000 meters of drilling. Then, on October 22, the company closed the last tranche of a non-brokered private placement for gross proceeds of C$4.5 million.

Shares of Pelangio reached a year-to-date high of C$0.29 on December 1.

5. Kirkland Lake Discoveries (TSXV:KLDC)

Year-to-date gain: 650 percent
Market cap: C$49.97 million
Share price: C$0.30

Kirkland Lake Discoveries is a gold and copper exploration company focused on projects in its district-scale land package located in the Kirkland Lake area of Ontario, Canada.

Its holdings span an area of approximately 38,000 hectares in the Abitibi Greenstone Belt and are broadly divided into KL West and KL East, which contain the Goodfish-Kirana and Lucky Strike gold projects, respectively, among others.

On April 29, the company expanded KL West’s southern portion by entering into a mining option agreement with Val-d’Or Mining (TSXV:VZZ) to acquire a 100 percent interest in the Winnie Lake and Amikougami properties, and mining claim purchase agreements with two vendors for further claims around the Winnie Lake Pluton.

On August 6, Kirkland Lake initiated the inaugural diamond drill program at the site, designed to follow up on historic drill results and recent surface exploration. Early results from the program came on August 12 when the company reported the discovery of an intrusion-related system at KL West’s Winnie showing.

Next, on August 26, Kirkland expanded the mineralized system after intersecting semi-massive and massive sulfide mineralization across three additional holes at KL West, with assay results pending.

On September 23, Kirkland Lake announced a C$7 million private placement with a significant portion coming from investors Eric Sprott, Rob McEwen and Crescat Capital. It had been upsized to C$14 million as of October 3.

Drilling at KL West resulted in a new gold discovery 2 kilometers northeast of the Winnie Shaft, the company reported on October 27, which Kirkland says is an intrusive-related mineralizing system centered on the Winnie Pluton with a 17 kilometer perimeter. The testing confirmed a distinct and coexisting copper-rich massive sulfide system as well.

In late November, Kirkland commenced a fully funded 25,000 diamond drill program focused on KL West and ‘surrounding structures associate with the Winnie Lake Stock.’

Shares of Kirkland Lake reached a year-to-date high of C$0.39 on October 28.

Bitcoin and Ether price update

Bitcoin (BTC) was priced at US$90,672.01, down by 0.9 percent over 24 hours.

Bitcoin price performance, December 8, 2025.

Chart via TradingView.

Cryptocurrencies traded choppily, but were ultimately directionless over the weekend.

Bitcoin briefly slipped toward the high US$87,000s on Sunday (December 7) ahead of this week’s US Federal Reserve meeting, with both short and long positions liquidated.

Markets are pricing in a 25 basis point interest rate cut from the Fed on Wednesday (December 10), but labor weakness and sticky inflation will make Chair Jerome Powell’s tone pivotal.

Linh Tran, senior market analyst at XS.com, believes Bitcoin “will likely continue oscillating within the US$84,000 to US$100,000 range until the Fed delivers a clear message,” adding that a 0.25 percentage point cut and dovish signals “would be favorable for risk assets, particularly Bitcoin,” while a hawkish stance risks downward pressure.

On Monday, Bitcoin briefly traded at around US$92,000, but failed to retest US$92,000 to US$93,500 resistance, dropping below US$90,000 as the US market opened.

Crypto analyst Daan Crypto Trades said bulls must defend the 0.382 Fibonacci retracement zone, which serves as a key area of support and resistance during market cycles. Failure to do so could result in a fall to April lows. Fellow analyst van de Poppe is eyeing US$86,000 as key support before potential lows retest.

Liquidity stayed thin, and derivatives positioning showed waning momentum rather than clear trend conviction, setting up a cautious, data‑dependent start to the new week.

Last week, US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) experienced net outflows of US$87.77 million, while spot Ether ETFs recorded US$65.59 million in outflows.

Cycle data mirroring 2022’s market suggests Bitcoin’s long-term bottom is in or imminent, according to investment manager Timothy Peterson. Derivatives data analyzed by CryptoQuant indicates trader apathy, signaled by low OI and leverage, paving the way for a potential rally.

Ether (ETH) is currently priced at US$3,129.54, down 0.4 percent over 24 hours.

Altcoin price update

• XRP (XRP) was priced at US$2.09, a decrease of 0.2 percent over 24 hours.

• Solana (SOL) was trading at US$134.23, down by 1.3 percent over 24 hours.

Crypto derivatives and market indicators

Bitcoin futures open interest rose 0.53 percent to US$58.18 billion in the last four hours of trading, alongside US$4.88 million in liquidations that hit mostly long positions, while Ether open interest climbed 0.49 percent to US$37.84 billion, with US$8.76 million liquidated.

Bitcoin’s relative strength index sits neutral at 51.67 with a mildly negative funding rate of -0.001 percent, signaling balanced momentum and slight short bias, whereas Ether’s positive 0.006 percent funding rate points to lingering long interest despite the downside pressure.

These metrics reflect cautious positioning amid recent Bitcoin consolidation, with rising open interest indicating fresh capital entering despite liquidation flushes that targeted longs more aggressively. The neutral-to-bearish Bitcoin funding and RSI suggest limited upside conviction short-term, potentially capping rallies until macro catalysts provide direction, while Ether’s funding tilt hints at relative resilience in alt positioning.

Today’s crypto news to know

StableChain launches mainnet

StableChain has launched its mainnet, introducing USDT as the gas fee token alongside a new dedicated governance token for network participants.

Tether’s USDT regulatory win

Tether’s USDT stablecoin received key regulatory status in Abu Dhabi, enhancing its legitimacy for institutional use.

BlackRock files for staked Ether ETF

BlackRock filed to list a staked Ether ETF, signaling growing institutional appetite for Ether-based yield products.

SEC closes Ondo probe

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ended its investigation into tokenized equity platform Ondo Finance, clearing a major regulatory hurdle.

Strategy boosts BTC holdings

Strategy’s (NASDAQ:MSTR) Bitcoin treasury has surpassed 660,000 BTC after a US$962 million purchase, underscoring aggressive accumulation by major players.

1. Orvana Minerals (TSX:ORV)

Year-to-date gain: 795.65 percent
Market cap: C$247.29 million
Share price: C$2.06

Orvana Minerals is a gold producer with multiple mines, including the Orovalle operation in Northern Spain, which hosts the El Valle Boinás and Carlés mines, as well as the Don Mario operation in Bolivia. Don Mario is on care and maintenance, but Orvana is advancing a plant expansion to process oxide stockpiles at the site. It is also working the Taguas property in Argentina.

After starting the year at C$0.24, Orvana’s stock value had more than doubled by April 11 to C$0.51. In February, the company released its fiscal Q1 financials, including updates for its properties. Highlights included the start of construction on its Don Mario plant expansion, which it expected to complete by the end of 2025, and work on updating the geological model for the Taguas property.­

After trading in a narrow range for much of the next two quarters, shares of Orvana climbed more than 200 percent in Q4, reaching a year-to-date high of C$2.06 on November 26.

This followed a series of positive news flow beginning with the company’s October 16 release of its fiscal year Q4 2025 report, which sent its stock price up to C$1.42 per share.

The report included gold production of 35,705 gold equivalent ounces and exploration results from the brownfield program at its Orovalle operation’s El Valle Boinás mine. The company also ramped up production at the operation’s Carlés mine during the quarter.

Orvana’s November 6 news concerned a US$25 million secured prepayment facility and a copper offtake agreement with Trafigura for production from Don Mario. Shares shot to US$1.80 by November 12.

Orvana’s year-to-date high came after its news release on November 26 announcing that it expects to start field work at Taguas in January 2026 and the phased restart at Don Mario will reach full commercial production by April 2026, with its gold-silver circuit commencing in mid-December 2025.

2. Andean Precious Metals (TSX:APM)

Year-to-date gain: 566.09 percent
Market cap: C$1.05 billion
Share price: C$7.66

Gold producer Andean Precious Metals owns the San Bartolome processing facility in Potosí, Bolivia, and the Golden Queen mine in Kern County, California, US.

Shares in Andean grew by 34 percent in the first quarter to end the period at C$1.61. In March, the company shared its 2024 production and financial results, which included record revenues and adjusted EBITDA for the year at US$254 million and US$62.9 million, respectively, as well as consolidated gold equivalent production of 106,287 ounces.

Andean also secured purchase agreements for up to 100,000 dry metric tons of oxide material from the Trapiche mining concession in Bolivia as feedstock for San Bartolome.

In the second quarter, Andean’s stock jumped 78 percent to C$2.87 per share. This came as the company reported another record quarter on May 6 with Q1 revenues at US$62 million and adjusted EBITDA of US$22 million. On June 2, Andean made another offtake deal, this time for up to 7 million metric tons of oxide ore over a 10 year period from COMIBOL, a Bolivian state-owned mining company.

Andean’s biggest growth came in the third quarter when its share price gained 189 percent to C$8.30 per share. In mid-July, the company said it was on track to reach its 2025 production targets, and the following month it announced Q2 financials, with further record revenues of US$73.7 million.

Shares of Andean Precious Metals reached a year-to-date high of C$8.83 on October 1.

Its Q3 financials on November 11 continued the upward trend with record revenues of US$90.4 million and a record adjusted EBITDA of US$36 million.

3. Troilus Gold (TSX:TLG)

Year-to-date gain: 377.97 percent
Market cap: C$715.4 million
Share price: C$1.41

Troilus Gold is advancing its Troilus copper-gold project in Northern Québec, Canada. The project is situated within the region covered by Plan Nord, a 25 year, C$80 billion development initiative focused on mining launched by the Québec government.

A May 2024 feasibility study for Troilus reveals a post-tax net present value of US$884.5 million, an internal rate of return of 14 percent and a payback period of 5.7 years based on a gold price of US$1,975 per ounce.

The included mineral resource estimate reports a probable mineral reserve of 6.02 million ounces of gold from 380 million metric tons of ore at an average grade of 0.49 grams per metric ton (g/t) gold. Troilus also hosts probable copper and silver reserves of 484 million pounds and 12.15 million ounces, respectively.

Troilus has spent much of 2025 raising funds for the project’s development.

The most significant came on March 13, when the company executed a mandate letter for a non-binding term sheet to arrange a debt financing package of up to US$700 million. The package is underpinned by four letters of intent from global export credit agencies in late 2024 for up to US$1.3 billion in combined potential financing.

On June 18, the company entered into an offtake agreement for gold-copper concentrate with German smelting company Aurubis (OTC Pink:AIAGF,XETRA:NDA), and the two companies signed a memorandum of agreement on August 26, establishing terms for the long-term offtake deal. On July 10, Troilus entered into another commercial offtake agreement for copper and gold concentrates, this time with global metals company Boliden.

According to Troilus, these offtake agreements will be executed in connection with the previously announced US$700 million in debt financing, which it later upsized to US$1 billion in November.

Shares of Troilus grew by more than 91 percent in the third quarter, and its gains continued into Q4, reaching a year-to-date high of C$1.66 on October 15. That day, the company shared a progress report, stating it was on schedule for a construction decision in 2026.

At the Xplor 2025 conference in late October, Troilus was awarded Entrepreneur of the Year by the Québec Mineral Exploration Association for its progress at the project.

4. Euro Sun Mining (TSX:ESM)

Year-to-date gain: 366.67 percent
Market cap: C$86.7 million
Share price: C$0.21

Euro Sun Mining is a development-stage company advancing its Rovina Valley copper-gold project in Romania. The project’s mining license received full approval for 20 years in 2018, with the option to renew it in five year increments.

An updated feasibility study from March 2022 shows a post-tax net present value of US$512 million and an internal rate of return of 20.5 percent, assuming a base case gold price of US$1,675 and a copper price of US$3.75 per pound.

In November 2025, Euro Sun released an updated definitive feasibility study that improved the economics, now showing a post-tax net present value of US$1.47 billion, with a pre-tax internal rate of return of 35.6 percent, based on a US$4.50 per pound copper price and US$3,300 per ounce gold price.

Proven and probable mineral reserve estimates for the site include 1.84 million ounces of gold and 197,522 metric tons of copper from 123.3 million metric tons of ore with an average grade of 0.47 g/t gold and 0.16 percent copper.

Shares of Euro Sun jumped nearly 125 percent in the first quarter of the year to C$0.09 per share, around the same time as a March 25 announcement that the EU had included Rovina Valley on its first list of strategic assets. The inclusion, which Euro Sun applied for in May 2024, will enable the company to expedite permitting at Rovina Valley and shorten the development timeline.

On May 7, Euro Sun reported it met with Romania’s environment minister to discuss the advancement of the project. Both parties agreed that a single point of contact was needed to ensure compliance and fulfill requirements under the CRMA framework. The company plans to submit an updated environmental act in the near future.

On June 20, Euro Sun signed a copper concentrate prepayment facility for up to US$200 million with private metals trader Trafigura, with the funding going toward permitting and investment to advance Rovina over the next 18 months. Euro Sun’s stock climbed another 55 percent in the second quarter to C$0.14 per share.

Then, on July 11, the companies entered into a definitive pre-development facility agreement, with Trafigura making a facility of up to US$2.5 million available to Euro Sun for general corporate purposes while negotiating the terms of the US$200 million prepayment facility. Euro Sun and Trafigura also agreed to a binding offtake agreement for up to 100 percent of commercial production for nine years or until a specified quantity of metals is delivered.

Shares of Euro Sun reached a year-to-date high of C$0.24 on November 18, following the release of the company’s updated definitive feasibility study for its Rovina Valley project.

5. Talisker Resources (TSX:TSK)

Year-to-date gain: 318.75 percent
Market cap: C$237.92 million
Share price: C$1.34

Talisker Resources is a gold exploration and development company focused on advancing its flagship Bralorne gold project in British Columbia, Canada, towards production from the Mustang underground mine.

The brownfield project consists of the historic Bralorne mine complex, which hosts three past-producing mines: Bralorne, Pioneer and King. Throughout their lifetimes, these mines produced 4.2 million ounces of gold, but operations were halted in 1971 due to low gold prices.

A January 2023 resource estimate outlines an indicated resource of 33,000 ounces of gold from 117,000 metric tons of ore with an average grade of 8.9 g/t gold, along with an inferred resource of 1.63 million ounces from 8 million metric tons of ore at 6.3 g/t.

On January 8, Talisker announced that its 2025 Mustang mine plan had been reviewed by inspectors from the BC Ministry of Mines and Critical Minerals, and on February 11, the company indicated that early stage work at the site was on schedule. Further updates throughout the first and second quarters indicated that development was continuing, noting the blasting of a diamond drill bay on March 26 and lateral development toward the Alhambra vein on April 9.

Shares in Talisker spiked more than 90 percent to C$0.61 per share over the first quarter.

On July 30, Talisker reported that it had entered into three definitive agreements with metals trader Ocean Partners, including two sales agreements, under which Ocean Partners will buy 100 percent of gravity and sulfide gold concentrates produced under Talisker’s current milling agreement. The third agreement makes Ocean Partners the exclusive agent for end-to-end transport of concentrates from the mill to international buyers.

Talisker announced it completed its first sale on September 8, selling 707 ounces of gold from Bralorne for US$2.3 million. The company stated that the sale marked a key milestone.

On November 10, the company accelerated the ore purchase agreement with Ocean Partners to now begin shipping in January 2026, and that it was seeking to amend its production permit to ramp up its milling capacity from 175 to 1,500 metric tons per day.

Talisker’s share price soared by 234 percent in the third quarter, and continued higher to a year-to-date high of C$1.71 on October 7.

Crypto market maturity and resilience

According to Elkaleh, Bitcoin’s resilience during its recent pullback, which brought a 37 percent drawdown from its October all-time high, was telling. While such severity was surprising, he observed that long-term holders and institutions continued to accumulate rather than unwind exposure, which he sees as an indicator of health.

“Q4 was defined by a major leverage reset, with BTC’s sharp pullback forcing a broader reassessment of risk,” he said.

At the time of this writing, analysts were split on where Bitcoin could go next. A further crash risk lingers if the US Federal Reserve delays interest rate cuts; however, a post-purge rally to US$135,000 to US$150,000 is in sight mid-year if institutions return, exchange-traded fund (ETF) flows flip positive and futures premiums stabilize above 5 percent.

As Bitcoin dropped, Elkaleh observed other segments of the market tied to practical use cases and diversification strategies — such as privacy assets, decentralized AI and stablecoin ecosystems — weather the storm.

“The market (has shown) growing maturity: capital and developer attention shifted toward utility-driven sectors such as tokenization, stablecoins and real-world integrations.”

Tokenization: The on-chain first institutional default

Mersch sees tokenization accelerating in 2026, eventually becoming the default for new institutional financial products.

He sees the foundation of this shift being built, with tokenized treasuries and money-market funds serving as a core yield sleeve for institutional investors who demand liquidity, standardized reporting and programmable settlement.

“If current growth holds, tokenized assets could be a multi-trillion dollar market by 2030, with government bonds and cash-like instruments as the anchor,” he said. “Over the next five years, the key shift is likely that new institutional products are designed as on-chain first, and only secondarily wrapped in legacy wrappers.”

He anticipates that stablecoins will be solidified as the liquidity backbone for a growing tokenized market, acting as the new cash layer. The most likely end state, according to Mersch, will be a hybrid digital cash stack, where bank-issued stablecoins, private stablecoins and central bank digital currenciesco-exist and interoperate.

Mersch predicts that tokenized real estate and private credit will now start to see expansion.

For real estate, tokenization converts a traditionally illiquid market into tradable, divisible assets, lowering the barrier to entry for global investors and providing recurring revenue streams.

Rupena, whose company, Milo, pioneered the crypto-backed mortgage, asserts that lenders will be expected to recognize digital assets as a core part of a client’s real balance sheet, just like cash or securities.

Elkaleh also expects to see strong expansion in RWA tokenization in 2026, alongside stablecoin-based payouts and small-business payment rails. “The most accelerated growth will occur in emerging markets, where mobile-first users turn to crypto as a practical financial alternative,” he wrote in an email.

“The rise of RWA markets, L2 scalability and more accessible DeFi will allow onchain credit and savings to scale meaningfully. Combined with steady institutional inflows, these economies will become the strongest demand engines of 2026, driving both user growth and real economic activity onchain.”

DeFi: An institutional derivatives and credit layer

The final pillar of the 2026 crypto outlook is the maturation of DeFi. Mersch asserted that DeFi is poised to emerge as a compliance-ready core platform for credit and risk management in 2026.

Real-world structural resilience supports Mersch’s forecast.

Rupena noted that market ups and downs are expected in the digital asset ecosystem, and that conservative LTVs, real-time monitoring and clear margining frameworks are designed to cope with volatility.

“Lower forced liquidation activity, even during big market moves, is a very healthy signal,” he explained, adding that customers are purposely keeping collateral cushions so they can stay calm during market swings.

This focus on prudence and durability validates the market’s readiness for institutional-grade credit and risk products.

“If successful, this creates a liquid, 24/7 derivatives layer that sits on top of both tokenized and traditional markets,” Mersch said. “By 2026 and beyond, the most interesting innovation may not be crypto versus TradFi, but portfolio and product designs that blend tokenized assets, stablecoin liquidity and DeFi-based synthetic exposure into a single stack.”

This institutional leap is fundamentally enabled by regulatory clarity.

“You can already see this through partnerships like Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) with Circle Internet Group (NYSE:CRCL) and Morpho (TSE:3653), where yield is embedded at the platform level without requiring users to interact directly with on-chain protocols. Regulation will accelerate that model,’ he added.

Elkaleh noted that clearer rules will allow users to adopt on-chain tools for cross-border payments, tokenized savings and AI-driven bill pay with the same confidence they have in regulated fintech apps. He expects the most transformational impact will come from next-generation L2 scalability paired with AI-agent execution.

“These shifts will bring down transaction costs, compress settlement times, and enable autonomous payments, subscriptions and cross-chain operations,” the expert explained.

“We also expect prediction-market aggregation to emerge as a breakout consumer interface and RWA perpetuals to bring macro assets, including commodities, credit and inflation onchain through synthetic markets. These developments collectively move crypto into a more comprehensive, high-velocity financial system.”

Upcoming crypto market catalysts

The pivot to a hybrid financial system will be driven by several concurrent catalysts.

The US Market Structure Bill is targeted for a Senate floor vote in early 2026, aiming to create the first federal framework for digital assets. North of the border, Canada’s Stablecoin Act, which provides C$10 million for Bank of Canada oversight starting in 2026, signals official endorsement of the digital cash layer.

Globally, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision is set to implement new capital standards for banks’ crypto exposures, crucial for encouraging institutional momentum, by January 1, 2026.

The technological engine supporting this adoption is fueled by scalability and intelligence.

On the blockchain side, Ethereum’s aggressive roadmap, including the Glamsterdam upgrade targeted for 2026, continues to refine Layer-2 (L2) systems. This focus on L2 efficiency, combined with the integration of AI agent execution, is key for supporting the millions of transactions needed for a comprehensive, high-velocity financial system.

Investor takeaway

In 2026, the crypto market is set to deliver meaningful gains and stable, sustained growth as this new, highly efficient, and globally interoperable financial system moves from the laboratory into production scale.

Target rate probabilities for December Fed meeting.

Chart via CME Group.

Both metals also benefit from geopolitical turmoil, which has ramped up due to US-Venezuela tensions. And silver specifically has had various other elements in its corner recently — a supply squeeze in London helped boost the price in October, as did strong Indian demand.

Chinese silver stockpiles are now also reportedly at low levels.

But when it comes to silver’s latest rise there’s been a lot of talk about other factors that may be in play. When silver started moving at the end of last week, its increase coincided with a trading halt on the Comex. At the time, CME Group said in an X post that a ‘cooling issue’ at a CyrusOne data center located in a Chicago suburb was responsible for the outage.

The problem took about 10 hours to resolve, and left market watchers questioning if there was more to the story, especially in terms of the connection to silver.

Opinions vary, but a key point that’s been mentioned by industry participants is that with Comex futures trading unavailable, the physical side of the silver market came to the forefront — the idea is that an entity or multiple entities were looking to stand for delivery, and perhaps the Comex was deliberately taken offline to remove that pressure from the market.

There’s a lot of speculation going on, and it’s worth noting that not everyone thinks this type of behind-the-scenes activity is happening. I heard from Clem Chambers of aNewFN.com, who said these types of outages do happen from time to time, especially in hot markets.

Here’s how he explained it:

‘What happened at the CME — it doesn’t take a Bond villain to do that. It takes a bit more traffic than normal, something weird, some guy didn’t show up for work, some update that wasn’t checked properly. It’s a myriad of reasons and it happens a lot. So don’t get paranoid about evil forces. And of course it will absolutely go down when the market is a fast market — that is the pinch point.’

This is a complex topic, and next week I’ll be talking to experts like Peter Krauth of Silver Stock Investor and Gary Wagner of TheGoldForecast.com to get their thoughts as well. If you have any questions you’d like me to ask, please drop a comment below.

For now, I’ll leave you with a few expert opinions on silver heading into 2026.

I’ve been asking guests to share their pick for next year’s top-performing asset, and the white metal has definitely been a popular choice.

Here’s Brien Lundin of Gold Newsletter on why he chose silver:

‘If I’m looking at what would be the best, I would probably say silver and silver stocks … I would say that because I don’t think — you know, silver leverages gold, and silver’s playing catch up right now. Mining stocks leverage gold, silver stocks leverage silver. So you’re adding leverage on top of leverage. So that would probably be my bet.’

Rich Checkan of Asset Strategies International is also most bullish on silver in 2026:

‘In terms of price, value and appreciation, I think it’s going to be silver. There’s no question. We’re not the end, but I think we’re past (the) midway point, and we’re probably going toward the late stages of a bull market — that usually favors silver, right? So I expect to see silver outpace gold at this point.’

Finally, this is why Jay Martin of VRIC Media thinks the big money is in silver:

‘The sure money is on gold, but the big money is on silver. And I think we’re going to see that materialize in 2026, so if I had to pick one to go all in with the purpose of maximal return and accepting the risk, I’m going with silver.’