What could shape crypto in 2026: 17 trends we’re watching

Stablecoins, Tokenized Assets, and the Future of Payments

Smarter, seamless on/offramps for stablecoins

Stablecoin usage exploded last year, reaching roughly $46 trillion in transaction volume — more than 20× PayPal, nearly 3× Visa, and closing in on the volume of the U.S. ACH system. Stablecoins move across the world in under a second and cost less than a cent to send.
What’s still missing is a smooth bridge between these digital dollars and the traditional financial tools people already use.

A new wave of startups is stepping into this space. Some are building privacy-preserving swaps between local currency balances and stablecoins. Others integrate directly with regional QR code systems or instant-payment rails. Still others are creating wallet layers and card networks that allow people to pay merchants directly in stablecoins.

As these rails mature, stablecoins will move from a niche financial instrument to the default settlement layer of the internet — enabling instant, global payroll, merchant payments without banks, and apps that can send value anywhere just as easily as an email.

Thinking about RWAs and stablecoins the crypto-native way

Traditional institutions — banks, asset managers, fintechs — are bringing everything from equities to commodities onchain. But much of this tokenization mimics old systems rather than embracing what crypto does best.

Perpetual futures (perps), for example, are often more liquid and simpler to implement than directly tokenizing real-world assets. Emerging-market equities may be one of the most compelling asset classes to “perpify,” and even 0DTE options markets could be reimagined this way.

We’ll also see stablecoins evolve beyond simple tokenized deposits. Today, many stablecoins behave like narrow banks — holding only ultra-safe liquid assets. The next step is building onchain credit origination, not just wrapping offchain loans in tokens. Originating directly on blockchain lowers servicing and operational costs while expanding access. Compliance and standards will be tough, but builders are already attacking the problem.

Stablecoins kick off a much-needed upgrade cycle for banking software

Banks run on core ledgers that often date back to the 1960s. Many still rely on COBOL and batch files, making upgrades painfully slow. Since most global assets still live on these systems, innovation is constrained.

Stablecoins provide an escape hatch: a way for banks to build modern products without overhauling their legacy infrastructure. Tokenized deposits, treasuries, and bonds let institutions offer new functionality faster and serve global users without touching decades-old systems.

The Internet becomes the bank

As AI agents begin making decisions and transacting autonomously, value needs to move as instantly as data. Smart contracts already allow global dollar settlement in seconds, but new primitives — such as x402-style programmable settlement — push this even further.

Agents will pay each other for compute, data, and services in real time. Prediction markets will resolve as events unfold. Apps can ship with embedded payment logic. In this world, value becomes just another network packet the internet routes — meaning the internet effectively is the financial system.

Wealth management for everyone

Custom wealth planning has traditionally been reserved for high-net-worth clients because tailoring portfolios across asset classes is expensive. Tokenization, combined with AI, changes that.

In 2026, we’ll see products focused on wealth accumulation, not just preservation. Fintechs and exchanges will pair AI-driven recommendations with instant, low-cost execution across tokenized stocks, bonds, private markets, and yield-bearing onchain assets.

DeFi tools — like automated lending optimizers — will serve as core yield engines. Stablecoins and tokenized money market funds expand what a portfolio can do. Retail investors will also gain easier access to typically illiquid opportunities such as private credit or pre-IPO shares.

When everything is tokenized, rebalancing becomes automatic — no wire transfers required.

Agents & AI

From KYC to KYA: know your agent

The biggest limitation for agent-driven economies isn’t intelligence — it’s identity. Non-human agents already outnumber human workers inside financial systems, yet they have no standardized credentials.

Agents need cryptographically signed identities that tie them to their creators, capabilities, and liability. Without this, businesses will keep blocking agents at the firewall. After decades spent building KYC infrastructure for people, the industry now has only months to figure out how to verify agents.

AI will become a true research partner

AI models have improved dramatically in their ability to reason. Tasks that were impossible for consumer models earlier this year — such as abstract economic reasoning — are now being done at a level comparable to graduate students.

A new style of research will emerge: polymathic, exploratory, and iterative. AI “hallucinations” will sometimes spark unexpected insights, and workflows will involve multiple agents critiquing and refining each other’s reasoning. Crypto can ensure that models’ contributions are tracked and compensated.

The open Web is paying an invisible tax

AI agents increasingly rely on scraping ad-supported sites, but they don’t return any revenue to the creators who fund that content. This disconnect threatens the open web’s economic model.

To preserve a healthy information ecosystem, we need real-time, usage-based compensation — potentially via blockchain micropayments and verifiable attribution. Instead of static licensing, value must flow automatically whenever an agent uses content.

Privacy & Security

Privacy will be the strongest competitive advantage in crypto

Most existing blockchains treat privacy as optional, but it’s essential for mainstream finance. Private systems create strong network effects: it’s easy to move tokens between public chains, but moving secrets is hard and leaks metadata.

This makes private chains sticky — users won’t risk exposing themselves by switching. Public chains that lack thriving ecosystems or unique advantages may find it difficult to compete. A handful of privacy-first chains could end up owning most of crypto.

A quantum-resistant future needs decentralized messaging

Messaging apps like Signal and WhatsApp use great encryption, but they still rely on centralized servers — which can be coerced, shut down, or compromised.

The future of secure communication is decentralized: no private servers, open-source clients, distributed nodes, quantum-safe encryption, and user-owned identities. If someone shuts down an app, hundreds of alternatives can instantly appear. You own your messages the same way you own your crypto keys.

“Secrets-as-a-Service” for the Data-Driven Future

AI agents depend on data, but most pipelines today are opaque and non-auditable. Many industries — especially finance and healthcare — need stronger protection.

We need infrastructure that enables programmable access rules, client-side encryption, decentralized key management, and onchain enforcement. With these primitives, secrets become part of the internet’s core plumbing rather than an afterthought.

Moving from “Code Is Law” to “Spec Is Law”

Even well-audited DeFi protocols have been hacked. Current security practices rely too much on heuristics and manual testing.

Next-generation tools will verify global invariants rather than spot-checking individual properties. Runtime guardrails will automatically revert transactions that violate safety rules. In this world, the specification — not the code — defines the system’s safety, and nearly every past exploit would have been stopped mid-execution.

Industries & applications

Prediction markets get bigger, richer, and more complex

Prediction markets are already mainstream, and 2026 will bring even more contract types covering nuanced or interconnected scenarios. As they become part of how information spreads, we’ll need better systems for resolving outcomes — especially edge cases.

Decentralized governance, LLM oracles, and AI agents trading on signals will push the space forward. Prediction markets won’t replace polling, but they’ll make it better. AI can improve survey quality, and crypto can prove respondents are human.

The rise of staked media

Traditional media’s authority has been eroding for years. Meanwhile, builders and operators increasingly speak directly to audiences — and people trust them because they have skin in the game.

New cryptographic tools allow creators to make verifiable commitments. A commentator can prove they hold or locked certain tokens. A forecaster can link predictions to publicly settled markets. This emerging category — “staked media” — doesn’t replace traditional journalism but adds a new credibility layer built on transparent incentives.

SNARKs break out of blockchains and enter the everyday Internet

Zero-knowledge proofs used to be far too heavy for mainstream computing. That’s changing fast. zkVM provers will soon run at about 10,000× overhead, light enough for smartphones and cheap GPUs.

Once GPUs can generate proofs of CPU execution in real time, verifiable cloud computing becomes practical: you can run a workload anywhere and receive a cryptographic proof it was executed correctly. Your code doesn’t need to change.

Building the next generation

Trading isn’t the final destination for crypto businesses

Many crypto companies pivot toward trading because it offers quick revenue. But when everyone becomes an exchange, differentiation disappears — and only a few giants win.

The real opportunity lies in focusing on product, not just financialization. Companies that resist the temptation of immediate gratification may ultimately build more enduring businesses.

Crypto needs legal architecture that matches the tech

For years, regulatory uncertainty forced founders to design around securities laws that weren’t built for networks. Token launches became contorted; governance was reduced to theater; transparency was discouraged.

New crypto market structure legislation — closer to passing than ever — could change everything. Clear rules would allow networks to operate as they were meant to: open, neutral, composable, and decentralized. Stablecoins have already shown what clarity can do; market-structure regulation would be even more transformative.

Disclaimer: This article is a rewritten interpretation. The original version is published on https://a16zcrypto.com/