Are the crypto winter fears overblown? A panel featuring Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, Solana Foundation President Lily Liu, and Binance CEO Richard Teng almost unanimously opined that volatility was not unique to crypto and dismissed concerns over the recent price corrections. The panelists gave examples of surging institutional adoption, growing regulatory clarity, and real-world utility as powerful tailwinds for the industries next leap forward.
Richard Teng spoke of institutional interest rising, substantiating it with how Binance has doubled institutional onboarding over the past 1 year and how we have barely skimmed the surface with just *% crypto adoption globally. “The best is yet to come,” Teng said, highlighting growing confidence among traditional financial players.
Garlinghouse echoed optimism about crypto’s future, stressing that the market has weathered cycles of risk-on and risk-off conditions. He pointed to seismic shifts in the U.S., the world’s largest economy, noting even traditionally anti-crypto giant Vanguard has now opened its doors. “Institutions will crawl, then walk, then run,” he predicted, forecasting crypto ETFs rising well beyond today’s 1–2% share of the total ETF market.
Liu embraced the wild swings as part of crypto’s DNA. “When you have irrational ups, Newtonian laws say there will be corrections,” she said, with a lot of that interest driven by DATs or digital asset treasuries. Answering the moderator on whether the ETF moment is overhyped, Lui highlighted how the Solana ETF was shining like a bright spot. She urged investors to focus on infrastructure fundamentals like speed, liquidity, and cost efficiency to drive wider adoption.
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On stablecoins, panelists agreed the sector is exploding, with 50% growth in market cap and wallets this year alone. Teng predicted major e-commerce players like Amazon could soon launch their own stablecoins, while Garlinghouse celebrated Ripple’s stablecoin surpassing $1 billion and gaining regulatory approvals across the UAE.
The session closed with a wild price prediction for Bitcoin. While Teng refrain from putting a number he said he would continue to be a ‘hodler’. Lui was more optimistic and said she sees Bitcoin above $100,000 again soon. Garlinghouse boldly called for $180,000 by December 2026. With regulatory and institutional tailwinds, the trio agreed the industry is only at the beginning of its institutional era, and volatility was part and parcel of the process.
