When you're wrong in crypto, you're really, spectacularly wrong. Just ask Anthony Scaramucci, who's sticking with his altcoin picks for 2026 despite watching them get absolutely demolished last year.
The Skybridge Capital CEO named Solana (SOL), Avalanche (AVAX), and Toncoin as his top three altcoins to watch this year during a Thursday interview with Altcoin Daily. It's a bold stance considering all three Layer-1 tokens delivered the kind of performance that makes investors question their life choices.
The Humbling Reality of Toncoin
Scaramucci was refreshingly candid about Toncoin, the token tied to Telegram's ecosystem, which he freely admits he got wrong.
"I mean, this tells you how wrong you can be and how humbling this life is in our world," he said, noting that the coin collapsed from $7.50 when he bought it to around $1.50 today. That's roughly an 80% haircut, the kind of loss that keeps you up at night.
But here's the thing—Scaramucci isn't backing down. "But I think that's going to be a token that's used in that network. And I think Telegram is going to grow its network," he projected.
To be fair, these three coins weren't alone in their misery. The broader cryptocurrency market lost its way in the final quarter of 2025, dragging pretty much everything down with it.
The Damage Report
Here's how Scaramucci's picks performed in 2025, with prices recorded at 11:55 p.m. ET:
Solana: Down 37.8%, trading at $126.90
Avalanche: Down 65.27%, trading at $13.56
Toncoin: Down 70.15%, trading at $1.67
Those aren't typos. Avalanche and Toncoin lost roughly two-thirds of their value. Even Solana, the relative outperformer, shed more than a third of its worth.
Banking on Trump's Economic Playbook
So why double down on these beaten-up altcoins? Scaramucci's betting on macroeconomic shifts in 2026, specifically policies from President Donald Trump's administration.
He anticipates that Trump will flood the market with liquidity by installing interest rate-friendly Federal Reserve officials. Lower rates typically mean cheaper money, which tends to flow into riskier assets like cryptocurrencies.
"That bodes well for the stock market. I think it bodes well for the altcoin market," Scaramucci said.
It's the kind of macro thesis that sounds reasonable until it doesn't, but that's crypto investing in a nutshell.
The Long-Term Blockchain Play
Scaramucci told MarketDash in an October interview that Skybridge's strategy involves selecting three to five Layer-1 tokens that will survive and see increased adoption and utility over the next five years. He's not day-trading these things—he's making a long-term bet on infrastructure.
He's putting his money where his mouth is, too. Scaramucci currently serves as a strategic advisor to AVAX One Technology Ltd. (AVX), a firm focused on AVAX, as well as to AlphaTON Capital Corp. (ATON), which holds a treasury of Toncoin.
When you're an advisor to companies holding these tokens, you're not just making predictions—you're living them. That's either conviction or a really expensive form of commitment, depending on how 2026 plays out.
