Three emerging narratives are rapidly appearing in the cryptocurrency forecasts for December, setting the pace for the year and potentially giving a new tone for 2026.
Web 3 spending has reached record levels, Washington is turning to robots, and prediction markets are making a strong comeback, indicating potential areas of interest for investors.
Record month for digital currency cards
Cryptocurrency card payments quietly exploded in November, indicating what may be the strongest confirmation yet that Web 3 new banking has become a real trend for consumers.
According to independent researcher Stacey Moore, the volume of cryptocurrency cards reached $406 million in November, an all-time high. Rain led the way with $240 million, followed by Redot Pay with $91 million and Ether.Fi with $36 million.
Growth leaders included Rain (+22%), Ready (formerly Argent) (+58%), and Ether.Fi (+9%). Meanwhile, MetaMask dropped by 30%, indicating a shift in user preferences towards newer, more utility-focused card products.
The paid dashboard platform Data Dashboards confirmed this momentum, reporting an estimated first-day volume of $5 million for cryptocurrency cards with increased user activity.
This explosion reinforces the growing market theme that Web 3 new banking is gaining real traction.
This aligns with a recent report from BeInCrypto, which showed that small-cap bank tokens, including Avicii, Cyber, and Machines, are attracting analysts' attention for their mix of real spending, self-custody, and yield-bearing cryptocurrency accounts.
These alternative coins in the early stages may have less value compared to their growing use across the sector.
Robotics and digital currencies: Washington ignites the fuse
This week accelerated a second narrative as the Trump administration shifted its technological focus from AI to robotics. Politico reported that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is "very interested" in expanding the robotics sector in the United States, following high-level meetings with robotics company heads.
Market participants quickly connected the dots. Cryptocurrency analyst HK stated they initiated a new position in tokens related to robotics. Highlighting PEAQ, they argued that many assets may now be attractive for regular investment.
Analyst HK wrote in a post: "I decided to start a position in Robotics x Crypto ... many have dropped since the pump ... late October ... it could be a good time for DCA ... I added PEAQ."
If robotics becomes a political priority for 2025, blockchain projects related to automation, machine coordination, and machine identity may see renewed interest.
This story reflects the boom of AI tokens for 2023-2024, but with a more industrial flavor relying on hardware.
Prediction markets: A volume war erupts
The strongest explosion in December may be in prediction markets. A recent report from BeInCrypto showed that Opinion.Trade reached $1.5 billion in weekly trading volume, with an average of $132.5 million daily. Thus, the prediction market briefly surpassed its competitors like Chai and Polymarket, with a market share of 40.4%.
The growth of that is driven by two factors:
AI-powered prediction models
A low-fee BNB chain infrastructure, bolstered by the merger of Polymarket in October and the launch of Opinion Labs' mainnet
Meanwhile, CZ re-entered the sector, announcing a prediction platform backed by YZiLabs on BNB Chain. Trust Wallet followed with the integration of prediction tools for its 220 million users, in partnership with Kalshi, Polymarket, and Myriad.
CoinGecko data shows that the category reached a market value of $2.23 billion, with a 24-hour trading volume of $49.2 million. Popular assets include Limitless, Drift Protocol, Rain, among others.
Much of it remains under the radar, creating an exploration environment similar to the DeFi cycle in early 2021.
Digital cards are breaking records, and Washington's move into robotics opens a new narrative arena, while the prediction market enters a large-scale arms race, suggesting that December marks a turning point.
Investors are now watching, in the first quarter of 2026, including regulatory updates, new card integrations, and listings in the main prediction market; they may find that these three narratives set the momentum at the start of the year across the market.
