BloFin Sees Five Layers for the Next Crypto Bull Market
BloFin sees stablecoins, tokenization, and RWAs as building blocks of a broader crypto cycle. According to the research, tokenomics and value accrual should now also bring value back to holders.
Key Takeaways
- BloFin Research expects the next bull market to rest on five layers: stablecoins, tokenization, RWA perps, prediction markets, and token value accrual.
- Stablecoins are growing as a payments and settlement layer, while tokenized U.S. stocks are bringing crypto infrastructure closer to the traditional stock market.
- According to BloFin, token value accrual is crucial because protocol usage only creates value for token holders through buybacks, burns, distributions, or treasury growth.
The crypto market grew by almost 7% in September 2026, and several major tokens hit multi-month highs. Still, according to BloFin Research, the question is not just whether this is a new bull market, but more importantly what makes this cycle different. Bitcoin climbed to its highest level since January, while U.S. interest rates stayed elevated and the Senate did not move the CLARITY Act forward.
Five Layers Instead of One Story
According to BloFin Research, the next bull market will not be driven by one dominant trend, such as Bitcoin as digital money, smart contracts, DeFi, or NFTs. In earlier cycles, new capital mostly stayed inside crypto itself, with money rotating from token to token. This time, the research firm sees five layers that together could create a broader role for crypto.
Those layers are stablecoins, tokenization, RWA perps, prediction markets, and token value accrual. Together, they would make crypto less of a closed-off arena and more of a parallel system alongside traditional markets.
Stablecoins and Tokenization Keep Growing
In that view, stablecoins form the cash layer. BloFin Research points out that they are being used more and more outside crypto trading, including for payments. Visa previously said annual stablecoin settlement had reached a run rate of more than $20 billion (€17.5 billion), more than 15 times higher than a year earlier. Mastercard also announced plans in June to expand settlement with stablecoins, giving issuers and acquirers more flexibility in how transactions are settled.
Tokenization provides the asset layer. The SEC recently approved an important shift, allowing tokenized U.S. stocks to be traded through blockchain platforms. That brings crypto infrastructure closer to the $75 trillion (€65.7 trillion) U.S. stock market. According to the provided market data, the on-chain RWA market reached $34.18 billion (€30 billion) on September 15, up 85.2% since the start of this year. That growth is mainly in bonds, money market funds, and tokenized equities.
Why This Matters for Europe
For European crypto followers, this matters because the line between crypto and traditional markets is getting blurrier. If stablecoins are used more often for settlement and tokenized stocks become more widely available, that could also affect how European investors view crypto infrastructure and regulated financial products side by side. It also shows that the crypto conversation is no longer just about tokens, but also about the rails that money and securities move on.
The Value Has to Come Back
The final layer may be the most important one, according to BloFin Research: token value accrual. This is about how the use of a protocol eventually creates value for token holders. That can happen through buybacks, burns, distributions, or treasury growth, but without such a mechanism, the link between activity and the token stays weak.
The research firm points to Hyperliquid, Uniswap, and Aave as examples of different models. Hyperliquid burns HYPE that is bought back with trading fees, while Uniswap ties protocol fees to UNI burns. Aave sends revenue to the DAO, which can use those funds for AAVE buybacks. At the same time, buyback spending reached a record $638 million (€559 million) through the end of August this year, with Hyperliquid and Pump.fun together accounting for nearly 90% of that total.
BloFin Research does warn that not everything is equally far along yet. Infrastructure for payments by AI agents is moving faster than actual usage, and the value of equity perps depends heavily on liquidity. Thin markets can still create noisy or manipulated signals there.
