TL;DR
- Bitcoin’s 2025 performance disappointed expectations, staying around $88,000.
- Scaramucci and Novogratz see this as a necessary consolidation phase.
- The focus shifts to building infrastructure over short-term speculation.
- 2026 is viewed as a year for discipline and market maturation.
The crypto market ends 2025 with fatigue and unfulfilled expectations. For Anthony Scaramucci, founder of SkyBridge Capital, and Mike Novogratz, CEO of Galaxy Digital, the coming year will not be about speculation or price mania but about rebuilding and consolidation within the digital asset sector.
Scaramucci admitted what many market analysts avoided saying: he expected 2025 to be Bitcoin’s breakout year—driven by regulatory progress, renewed institutional sentiment, and forecasts pointing to $150,000 per BTC. Instead, Bitcoin sits around $88,000, with sentiment turning negative and investors retreating to caution.
He conceded that his expectations were premature, yet emphasized that Bitcoin’s long-term trajectory remains intact. “This is not the end of Bitcoin’s story,” he noted. “It’s a necessary consolidation phase that will define the next stage of growth.”
A Market That Didn’t Behave as Expected
Mike Novogratz, one of crypto’s earliest institutional advocates, shares a similar assessment. He described 2025 as a year of disappointment rather than collapse. “Sentiment is bad, not because crypto is broken, but because the market didn’t do what it was supposed to do,” he explained in a recent interview.
SCARAMUCCI & NOVOGRATZ: 2026 IS ABOUT HEALING, NOT HYPE
Anthony Scaramucci admitted what a lot of people won’t. He thought 2025 would be the breakout year for #Bitcoin. Regulatory tailwinds, sentiment shift, $150K — and instead we’re sitting near $88K with sentiment clearly… pic.twitter.com/UNSk6sklZD
— CryptosRus (@CryptosR_Us) December 24, 2025
Bitcoin reached a new all-time high earlier in the year, but the rally lacked follow-through, leading to a prolonged correction. For Novogratz, this reflects a classic post-cycle reset, a period when traders unwind leverage and institutions reassess their exposure before the next expansion.
“I’m not worried about Bitcoin having already peaked,” he said. “Too much has been built for the asset class to fade away. Institutional capital, custody networks, and global participation don’t just disappear because one year underdelivered.”
From Speculation to Construction
Novogratz directed his optimism not toward price recovery but toward infrastructure development. He pointed to a growing number of global neobanks integrating crypto, tokenized stocks, and prediction markets into unified platforms—a sign that the underlying industry continues to build, regardless of price weakness.
He compared the current cycle to the years following the dot-com crash, when the world’s largest technology companies quietly built the infrastructure that later powered mass adoption. “We’re in the phase of building the pipes, not decorating the charts,” he said.
For both investors, 2026 represents a transition year—a period of healing and quiet progress rather than hype or speculative mania. Scaramucci summarized it bluntly: “The market doesn’t need excitement right now. It needs discipline, structure, and time to mature.”
Their shared message underscores a broader reality: crypto’s foundation is stronger than its headlines suggest. The industry may be nursing its wounds, but behind the scenes, developers, investors, and institutions continue to lay the groundwork for the next cycle of adoption.
