TLDR: 2026 crypto predictions round-up
- snguyen516
- 4 hours ago
- 6 min read
The New Year has brought a wave of 2026 crypto and blockchain predictions from major industry and institutional players. Industry outlooks for 2026 point to a year of structural change across crypto and traditional finance. Reports from Bitcoin Suisse, Messari, Galaxy Research, A16Z, Coinbase Institutional and others highlight common themes: lower interest rates driving capital inflows, tokenisation moving from pilot operations to large-scale implementation, and of course AI reshaping transaction infrastructure.
We have summarised the predictions from these major players below. These predictions point to interesting common themes, but of course, these predictions are not our predictions and are not financial advice.
Venture capital fund A16Z Crypto are observing 6 key trends in 2026:
Stablecoins hit $46T volume, surpassing PayPal and Visa; new rails like QR systems, privacy swaps, and global wallets enable instant cross-border payments.
Banks are layering stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and on-chain bonds over legacy COBOL systems for agility without full rewrites.
Shift from tokenizing off-chain assets to on-chain origination of loans and stablecoins for lower costs and better accessibility.
Real-world assets move from basic tokenization to crypto-native formats like perpetual futures for liquidity and leverage.
Wealth management democratized via tokenized assets, AI-driven rebalancing, and retail access to private credit and pre-IPO deals—all on-chain.
Internet becomes the bank: AI agents settle payments instantly via smart contracts; protocols like “x402” enable autonomous value exchange, making money a routable data packet.
The institutional arm of Coinbase, the global digital currency exchange, has shared its 2026 market outlook, including:
Crypto markets in 2026 are set for transformative growth as regulation and institutional integration strengthen crypto’s role in global finance.
Landmark progress in 2025, including spot ETFs and digital asset treasuries, laid the foundation for innovation and risk management.
Tokenomics 2.0 will link token value to platform usage through mechanisms like fee-sharing and buybacks, creating more durable models.
Institutions will demand privacy, driving adoption of zero-knowledge proofs and advanced encryption technologies.
AI and crypto will converge, enabling autonomous agent systems with programmable payments for high-frequency microtransactions.
Real-world asset tokenization will accelerate, offering DeFi-style composability and better capital efficiency.
Stablecoins remain the dominant use case, projected to reach a $1.2 trillion market cap by 2028, powering cross-border settlements, remittances, and payroll platforms.
Bitcoin Suisse made the following anticipated predictions for the year:
The Fed are on a cutting path with rates tracking down to 2.0%;
Economic activity will accelerate;
Bitcoin will dip its toes in post-quantum resistance;
The Tether and Circle duopoly will weaken with yield and distribution reshaping the stack;
Bitcoin will make new all-time highs and approach $180,000;
A tug of war emerges as passive flows anchor the top while applications drive market breadth;
2026 will deliver a cross-asset class bull run;
Digital asset option volume will increase by 50%, reaching 5% overall market volume;
The U.S entry will catalyse Polymarket as the clear market leader in prediction markets;
Ethereum L1 scaling goes exponential;
ETH will make all-time highs in 2026 and approach $8,000;
DATs grow Institutional Ownership by 20% and Expand Funding Strategies.
Messari, a top provider of crypto market intelligence, has published its 2026 Cyrpto Theses. The report explores 7 main sections including cyrptomoney, TradFi, Chains, DeFI and AI:
Ethereum could see a resurgence in 2026 if a bull market returns, giving DATs a 'second life'.
Tether remains dominant despite new competition from JPMorgan and Google, especially in less compliance-heavy economies.
Lower interest rates will shift capital to crypto-native yields based on real cash flows, creating more sustainable returns.
Consumer crypto is moving to an app-led economy, with apps capturing most revenue as blockspace bottlenecks fade.
Tokenized RWAs (Treasuries, credit) reached $18B in 2025; DTCC’s SEC approval will accelerate tokenization of U.S. securities.
Tech-finance-AI convergence will drive agentic commerce, as firms like Cloudflare and Google build rails for autonomous transactions.
Galaxy, a leading digital asset trading firm, has released 26 bold predictions for 2026, including:
Bitcoin is expected to mature and gain institutional adoption despite near-term uncertainty, with a long-term bullish outlook targeting $250K by end-2027, even as 2026 remains unpredictable with wide price ranges and potential for new highs.
Solana’s Internet Capital Markets are set to hit $2B as the ecosystem shifts from memes to real revenue-driven businesses.
No Solana inflation reduction proposal will pass in 2026, and SIMD-0411 will be withdrawn without a vote, as the community shifts focus to market microstructure improvements and concerns about preserving SOL’s neutrality as a store of value.
The SEC is expected to grant exemptive relief for tokenized securities in DeFi, paving the way for legal onchain securities and starting formal rulemaking in late 2026.
A major bank or brokerage is expected to start accepting tokenized equities as collateral, signaling their full equivalence to traditional securities and accelerating blockchain adoption in mainstream finance.
Crypto-backed loans are projected to surpass $90B by end-of-quarter, with onchain lending gaining dominance as institutions increasingly rely on DeFi protocols for borrowing and lending.
15+ crypto companies are expected to IPO or uplist in the U.S. in 2026, driven by a strong pipeline of firms seeking access to U.S. capital amid easing regulations, with likely candidates including CoinShares, BitGo, Chainalysis, and FalconX.
Cyrpto.com has released its 2026 predictions alongside its 2025 Year in Review:
2026 marks the shift from foundational building to commercial scaling, integrating TradFi stability with DeFi efficiency through tokenization, stablecoin adoption, and institutional-grade blockchain infrastructure.
Tokenized assets (starting with U.S. Treasuries) and corporate stablecoin adoption will surge, driven by demand for yield, faster cross-border payments, and regulatory clarity from the GENIUS Act and MiCA.
Public chains like Ethereum and EVM-compatible networks (e.g., Cronos) will become credible settlement layers, supported by pilots like JPMorgan’s tokenized deposits and focus on DeFi + AI integration.
Prediction markets race toward regulatory legitimacy and mainstream adoption, while RWAs (especially tokenized fixed income) cement their role as the low-risk anchor for on-chain finance, with exponential growth projected.
Ethereum upgrade Glamsterdam, introduces ePBS (EIP-7732) to embed proposer-builder separation for greater censorship resistance and decentralization, and BALs (EIP-7928) to enable parallel execution, improve efficiency, and lower gas costs.
Privacy becomes critical for institutional adoption, while DePIN networks like Akash and Render decentralize compute resources to meet AI inference demand, reducing reliance on centralized cloud providers.
Forbes provided its insights into 3 crypto trends that it sees as set to dominate 2026:
AI and crypto markets will continue to track each other in trading sentiment and macro reactions, driven by shared volatility and investor appetite for high returns.
Large financial institutions are deepening crypto integration through tokenization, custody, and on-chain settlement, viewing these as efficiency tools rather than speculative bets.
Market cooldowns won’t halt progress; downturns foster infrastructure, compliance, and real-world applications like stablecoins and tokenized assets, shifting focus from hype to utility.
VanEck, a global investment management firm shared their predictions on investment opportunities in digital assets:
2026 is likely to be a consolidation year for Bitcoin, with volatility halved and leverage reset; quantum security discussions may boost long-term engagement.
The strongest upside is in Bitcoin mining consolidation as operators pivot to AI/HPC infrastructure with a secondary opportunity in stablecoin-driven B2B payments, with fintech and e-commerce platforms as key beneficiaries.
The Block, a global information services brand released their 2026 predictions:
Tom Lee’s Bitmine will sell ETH by the end of Q1 2026, prompting other DATs to follow and potentially weighing on price sentiment.
Bitcoin dominance remains above 50%, with BTC likely setting a new high in Q2 and outperforming alts.
Polymarket and Base launch their tokens, entering the top 10 by fully diluted market cap, and Base spurs a wave of mobile-first crypto apps.
Stablecoin supply surges past $400B, with velocity exploding as payment processors adopt them; USDT’s share declines, and over 20 stablecoins exceed $1B market cap.
RWA and derivative innovation sees non-stablecoin RWAs exceed $30B, widely traded commodities tokenized, equity and commodity perpetual DEXs thrive, and RFQ-based DEXs emerge.
Crypto infrastructure matures with plasma-based corporate blockchains rise in TVL, Base and MetaMask launch native tokens, major crypto companies IPO, and network tokens struggle against Stablecoins.
Looking forward
As evidenced by the above, the industry expects 2026 to mark a shift from experimentation to scale. Stablecoins are projected to surpass traditional payment networks in transaction volume, while tokenisation moves beyond pilots to mainstream adoption across Treasures, credit, equities and commodities. Banks and institutions are layering tokenised deposits and on-chain bonds over legacy systems, and the on-chain origination of loans and stablecoins is reducing cost and complexity.
Upgrades to Ethereum and decentralised computer networks will strengthen infrastructure for AI-driven commerce and autonomous payments. Institutional adoption deepens as tokenised securities gain regulatory recognition and crypto-backed lending continues to grow in popularity.
In Australia, pending legislation is also set to provide some long-awaited clarity for exchanges and service providers. Privacy, compliance and interoperability do indeed remain critical challenges (in Australia and around the world); however, the trajectory of crypto is evident: it is increasingly becoming part of the financial core through widespread adoption of on-chain origination, trading and payments.
Written by Steven Pettigrove, Luke Higgins and Sophie Nguyen