Van Eck: Investors Shed Bitcoin Bracing for a Bearish 2026

Jan Van Eck, CEO of Vaneck, a global investment firm that manages a bitcoin ETF, gave his view on the state of the cryptocurrency market. At a recent interview, Van Eck stated that investors were positioning for a weak 2026 and explained other factors that also affected bitcoin’s price.

Vaneck CEO: Bitcoin Still Valuable for Portfolios, 2026 Scheduled to Be ‘Negative’

The Facts

Jan Van Eck, CEO of global investment firm Vaneck, which offers bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) options, stressed that bitcoin’s current downturn has its origin in investors’ moves to protect from a traditionally bearish year.

At a recent interview on CNBC, he explained that while investors still have reasons to hold bitcoin in their portfolios due to global liquidity needs, comparing it to gold, the current downturn was related to moves seeking to take profits and prepare for 2026.

He declared:

Every four years for the last decade, bitcoin has had a big negative year, and guess what, 2026 is scheduled to have a big negative year.

At the same time, he stressed that there were other reasons that crypto pioneers were concerned about, which might affect bitcoin’s performance, including a potential quantum weakness and the lack of privacy of bitcoin transactions.

In this sense, he mentioned zcash as a possible alternative to these worries, labeling it as a “token related to bitcoin with a lot more privacy.”

Why It Is Relevant

Van Eck’s explanation presents another vision of why bitcoin, which had experienced numerous all-time highs this year, has receded and lost market cap with seemingly no reason.

He reinforced the 4-year cycle thesis, which takes the halving, when bitcoin experiences a reduction in its miner subsidy, as a marker for the asset’s performance in the coming years.

Nonetheless, other experts have proposed additional theories, including an existing liquidity hole, normal volatility, negative macroeconomic reasons, and the shadow of an artificial intelligence (AI) bubble, among others.

Read more: Bitcoin Plunges to $83K as Markets Cower Before Japan’s Massive Stimulus Package

Looking Forward

As with all predictions, only time will tell if the 4-year cycle maintains its validity, as bitcoin has evolved from a retail-driven asset to become an instrument held by institutions, with a criterion many analysts believed would help curb its volatility.

FAQ

• What did Jan Van Eck attribute to bitcoin’s current downturn?
  Jan Van Eck indicated that the downturn stems from investor strategies to protect their portfolios in anticipation of a traditionally bearish year in 2026.
• How does Van Eck compare bitcoin to gold?
  He emphasized that despite current market challenges, investors still find reasons to hold bitcoin for its potential as a liquidity asset, likening it to gold in financial portfolios.
• What concerns did Van Eck raise about bitcoin’s future performance?
  He highlighted issues like potential quantum weakness and the lack of transaction privacy, suggesting alternatives like zcash for more privacy.
• What theory about bitcoin’s performance over the years did Van Eck reinforce?
  He supported the 4-year cycle thesis, where Bitcoin typically experiences significant downturns in years following its halving events, influencing market expectations.