ARK Invest Forecasts Institutionalization and Tokenization as Crypto Market's Next Growth Phase
According to Lorenzo Valente of ARK Invest, the Bitcoin 4-year cycle is influenced not only by halving dynamics but also by investor behavioral patterns, monetary policy, and regulatory landscape.
Valente foresees a continued shift toward institutionalization, real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, and regulation in the crypto market. The RWA sector has grown to $38 billion in the third quarter of 2026 through to late August, with the user base surpassing 2.5 million.
The growth outlook for RWA includes the tokenized assets on public blockchains, which have more than tripled to $19.3 billion by Q1 2026, driven by Gold-backed tokens and tokenized perpetual volume jumping to $525 billion by the end of Q1 2026.
Valente believes that institutions get involved after retailers and traders have validated an asset class, and regulation plays a critical role in communicating to investors and the broader institutional community that the market is mature and stable.