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Looking Back and Moving Ahead: What 2025 Taught Us About Crypto – and What 2026 May Bring

In the latest episode of Dorsum Expert Talk, Kanti Péter, Head of Blockchain and Digital Assets at Dorsum, sat down with Ivan Wu, Researcher at The Block, to reflect on one of the most turbulent and contradictory years the digital asset industry has seen. Their conversation not only unpacked the complexity of 2025 but also provided a grounded outlook on what might define the coming year.

A Year of Contradictions

If a single word could capture 2025 in crypto, it would be conflicted. The year produced moments of exuberance, with the total market cap touching approximately $4.3 trillion, only to dive to nearly half that value by year‑end. Bitcoin, after several roller‑coaster swings, ultimately finished the year marginally in the red — a symbol of how uneven and unstable the broader picture was.

Sentiment across crypto‑native communities mirrored this volatility. Crypto Twitter oscillated between euphoric optimism and sharp pessimism, sometimes within the span of days. Yet behind the emotional tides, a deeper story was unfolding: one of quiet, steady progress.

The Institutional Engine Keeps Running

Despite the shaky markets, institutions did not slow down. In fact, they accelerated. According to Ivan Wu’s observations, financial giants spent much of 2025 actively hiring crypto and blockchain specialists, signalling that their interest had matured beyond experimentation.

A notable shift took place: institutions no longer wanted to run endless proof‑of‑concepts. Instead, they began asking how to bring production‑ready, on‑chain solutions to life. From fund administration to settlement and collateralization, the focus moved toward deploying real, operational products rather than theoretical pilots.

This hunger for progress also exposed a widening talent gap. As Ivan put it, institutions now need people who not only understand markets, but can truly grasp the technical foundations of blockchain systems. Demand for crypto‑native expertise has never been greater.

AI Steps Onto the Blockchain Stage

The conversation also highlighted one of the most promising developments: the rise of AI‑enhanced smart contract auditing. With OpenAI and other leaders publishing new research on automated auditing capabilities, the industry is entering a new era where intelligent systems can help detect vulnerabilities faster and more accurately than before.

This is especially important in a space where “vibe coding” — shipping code without robust security checks — has caused countless exploits and losses over the years. AI offers the possibility of more reliable, scalable, and comprehensive audits, while still working hand‑in‑hand with human expertise. The intersection of AI and blockchain security will likely become a defining theme of the next few years.

2026: A Year of Utility and Maturity

As the discussion moved toward the year ahead, both experts agreed that 2026 will be shaped less by hype and more by meaningful utility.

Stablecoins are expected to continue their steady rise. Their position as the backbone of on‑chain value transfer is becoming more entrenched, and their adoption by institutions will only accelerate this momentum. Tokenized assets — from T‑bills to equities — are also poised for expansion, driven by both investor interest and institutional innovation.

However, the truly transformative change won’t come from simply tokenizing these assets, but from actually using them on-chain. Will tokenized T‑bills be deployed as collateral in DeFi protocols? Will tokenized equities be actively traded or integrated into automated strategies? These questions point to the real frontier of tokenization: functional utility, not just digital representation.

This evolution still faces bottlenecks, including regulatory interpretation, liquidity challenges, and the integration of legacy systems with blockchain infrastructure. Even so, both Péter and Ivan see clear momentum. For the first time, we may see meaningful institutional transaction volume happening on-chain — not as pilots, but as routine operations.

The Foundation for the Future

Despite the turbulence of 2025, the industry left the year stronger than it entered it. Under the noise of market cycles, the foundations of long‑term adoption continued to solidify. As we step into 2026, the focus is shifting toward pragmatic implementation, cross‑industry collaboration, secure infrastructure, and real-world use cases that extend far beyond speculation.

This blend of maturing technology, institutional readiness, and AI‑driven security innovation sets the stage for a year where the digital asset ecosystem becomes more functional, more reliable, and more deeply integrated into global finance.

Want the Full Story?

This article only scratches the surface of the insights shared in the conversation.
To hear Kanti Péter and Ivan Wu discuss these topics in depth, tune in to the latest episode of the Dorsum Expert Talk podcast. Highly recommended for anyone following the evolution of blockchain, tokenization, and institutional digital asset strategies.

Listen to the full podcast episode here:

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Martina Bagarić Maršić

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Martina doesn’t believe in transactional sales — she builds business ecosystems based on genuine partnership. With over 15 years in the industry, she consciously steps away from aggressive tactics, championing an “ethical sales” approach instead. For her, building transparency and trust is the absolute core of any business relationship. A secret introvert, she relies on a quiet hour of morning routine to recharge her inner peace, ensuring she can give her absolute best to her clients all day.

Her superpower? 
Reading the room. She instantly decodes true needs, so clients feel like partners, not just transactions.

What won’t she do? 
Parachute jump. She will gladly help redesign your business strategy or share practical life advice, but she will never jump out of a perfectly good airplane.

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Head of UK Product

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Her superpower? 
The Strategic “No.” She isn’t afraid to kill a weak feature to save the product vision.

What won’t she do? 
Sit still or sing. She works from a treadmill desk to keep moving, but hand her a karaoke mic, and she’ll clear the room instantly.

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Hannah proves that high-stakes tech sales doesn’t have to be a rigid, jargon-filled grind. She brings a genuinely fun, open, and relaxed energy to the room, believing that the best partnerships start with a simple, honest chat. And while she keeps things light, she is fiercely persistent when it comes to solving business problems. Whether she is untangling a messy digital ecosystem or helping a team scale, her secret weapon is that she simply never gives up. She operates with radical honesty, zero fluff, and a commitment to keeping the process as enjoyable as it is successful.

Her superpower? 
Relentless persistence. She never gives up on a problem, bringing a fun, conversational vibe to even the toughest business challenges.

What won’t she do? 
Use clinical buzzwords. She solves complex tech puzzles daily, but happily leaves words like “diagnostic” to the Apple Store.

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HR director

Szilvia has been the heart of Dorsum’s community since 2006. While her title says HR Director, she acts more like a human bridge between business logic and employee well-being. She always looks past the bullet points on a CV to find genuine curiosity and loyalty, knowing that true team spirit cannot be automated. She is the kind of leader who will boldly trade a flashy corporate party to secure comprehensive health insurance for everyone. After a week of navigating complex group dynamics, she unplugs completely, relying on time with family and friends 
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Her superpower? 
Reading the room. She instantly tunes into group dynamics, sensing hidden tensions in a meeting long before anyone says a word.

What won’t she do? 
Talk strategy before coffee. She never sacrifices humanity for results and refuses deep discussions before her own system boots up.

Péter Sallai

Chief Technology Officer

Péter is the kind of CTO who doesn’t just set direction—he understands and enjoys technology all the way down to its deepest layers. He believes great architecture isn’t built for fashion, but for endurance: systems should stay strong under real load and evolve as needs change. At Dorsum, he designs and leads teams building long-lasting platforms that can modernize without big-bang rewrites—stable foundations, modular components, and the mindset of being able to “swap the engine mid-flight.”
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His superpower? 
Tech Intuition + Deep Dive. He sees the big picture, but can go all the way into the details when the root cause—or the right decision—lives there.

What won’t he do? 
Predict the lottery. He will happily predict future tech trends, but please don’t ask him about the winning numbers.

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Chief Project Officer

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His superpower? 
Elite situation awareness. He instantly decodes complex dynamics, pinpointing the hidden risks and success factors of any project.

What won’t he do? 
Settle for “just working.” He strictly separates functioning from functioning well, and flat-out refuses to compromise.

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Country Manager

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Her superpower? 
Contextual empathy. She instantly tunes into the unique mindset of any new client or culture, finding the exact common ground to build trust.

What won’t she do? 
Stay home on a weekend. After a highly disciplined workweek, she absolutely refuses to sit still on a Saturday.

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CFO & COO

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His superpower? 
Stepping into your shoes. He instantly understands the real motivations of clients and colleagues without judgment.

What won’t he do? 
Walk away wearing them. He avoids unsolicited “if I were you” advice, giving you the context but leaving you the freedom to pick your own pa

Bálint Fischer

Chief Business Development Officer 

Bálint blends banking pragmatism with a builder’s curiosity. Having spent long years sitting in the client’s chair at major financial institutions, he intuitively understands the anxieties of digital transformation before they are even spoken. He is a “visionary doer” who combines a mathematician’s logic with a deep passion for connecting people, ensuring that technology serves human goals, not the other way around. Since joining Dorsum, he has been the driving force behind our international expansion and innovation. 

His superpower? 
Finding the courage to challenge “limits” that exist only in our heads. 

What won’t he do? 
Accept “because we’ve always done it this way”
as a valid answer. He is far too curious for that. 

Róbert Kő

Chairman of the Board

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His superpower? 
Creating balance in any conversation. He instinctively helps partners find their place in a meeting, ensuring the discussion is authentic and leads to a real connection.

What won’t he do? 
Ask “is there another way?”. He simply creates one, even if he must build the bridge himself.

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Chief Executive Officer

Mariann brings over 25 years of enterprise discipline to Dorsum, yet she leads with a refreshing reliance on “common sense” over rigid corporate playbooks. She understands that strategy is nothing without the people who execute it, so she focuses on aligning organizational capability with business targets. For her, profitability is key, but she isn’t afraid to override the financial targets if the long-term market position demands it. She views leadership not as a solo performance, but as a shared responsibility. She strictly adheres to the motto that “no one should be a leader without empathy,”.

Her superpower? 
Balancing Strategy, Culture, and Numbers, instinctively knowing which one needs a push.

What won’t she do? 
Play the lonely hero. Lone wolves look cool in movies, but in business, they just get tired.