Elk Capital Markets founder explains crypto’s next growth wave

Pooja Rajkumari

Fri, February 13, 2026 at 12:04 PM GMT+9 2 min read

Institutional adoption in crypto is no longer just about chasing returns.

That’s the view of Neel Patel, founder and CEO of Elk Capital Markets, who argues that the current wave of institutional participation feels fundamentally different from previous bull cycles.

It is not because prices are soaring, but because the market is finally catching up.

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Liquidity changes everything

Patel noted that earlier waves of institutional growth were largely price-driven. When crypto rallied, institutions followed. But this cycle, he said, shows deeper structural maturation.

**“It feels very, very different than three years ago, five years ago,” **Patel said. “The actual liquidity and size we see will be meaningful. It’s not going to be a sideshow.”

He pointed to recent moves by Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange to accelerate plans for 24/7 trading. The developments mirror crypto’s 24/7, 365-day markets.

According to Patel, traditional finance is now “playing catch-up.”

Perpetual futures, automated market makers and 24/7 trading are examples of crypto-native innovations that traditional markets are beginning to emulate.

“If you tell someone, if you wanted to sell your Tesla stock on Saturday night at 5 p.m., you can now, that’s going to make sense,” Patel said.

Payment rails and stablecoins, he added, are tangible use cases that resonate beyond speculative trading.

In prior cycles, institutions hesitated because liquidity was thin. A large fund cannot meaningfully deploy capital into markets where only small amounts are available at the touch.

That constraint, he said, is fading.

Operational clarity is also improving. Regulatory pathways are becoming clearer, technology stacks are maturing and trading interfaces increasingly resemble traditional finance tools rather than experimental websites. For integration teams inside large firms, that familiarity matters.

While Bitcoin’s store-of-value narrative remains popular, Patel said innovation, not price appreciation, is the more compelling driver for long-term adoption.

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What defines 2026?

Looking ahead, Patel expects prediction markets and binary options to have a moment, noting that even traditional exchanges are revisiting those products.

But the bigger shift may come from artificial intelligence.

“I imagine as AI agents are taking off, they’re going to need ways of transacting with the world. And I think that’s where a really big technical driver can come in here,” he said.

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He also highlighted the emerging need to distribute and underwrite risk tied to GPU infrastructure and AI development.

In his view, the real story of crypto in 2026 will not hinge on whether prices dip or rally, but on whether innovation continues to reshape how markets operate.

And this time, institutions appear ready to participate at scale.

Related: ‘AI that remembers’: Jeremy Frank on blockchain, autonomous agents, and the future of software

This story was originally published by TheStreet on Feb 13, 2026, where it first appeared in the MARKETS section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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