In recent years, leaders across the crypto sector have laid the necessary technical and regulatory groundwork for long-term adoption. By 2026, this investment is likely to pay off, as a reliable infrastructure for digital assets and the expansion of use cases drive institutional demand, leading more banks, companies, and providers to move from pilot projects to full-scale operations.
This transition should manifest itself in four key areas: stablecoins, on-chain assets, crypto custody, and automation through artificial intelligence (AI). Each of these will contribute to a deeper integration of blockchain technology and digital assets into the global financial system.
Next, I present the key inflection points that, in my assessment, will drive institutional adoption in 2026, with long-term implications for the Internet of Value – a global network in which money moves as quickly and easily as information on the current internet.
Stablecoins: the standard for global settlement
Over the next five years, stablecoins are expected to fully integrate into global payment systems—not as an alternative infrastructure, but as the fundamental basis. This shift is already happening in practice, with giants like Visa and Stripe incorporating these tracks directly into traditional flows.
In the United States, the passage of the Genius Act officially ushered in the era of the digital dollar. Highly regulatory-compliant stablecoins issued in the U.S.—including Ripple USD (RLUSD)—are set to become the gold standard for programmable global payments, 24/7, and serve as a critical source of collateral in modern financial markets. With the recent conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for the creation of the Ripple National Trust Bank, we are not only following the rules but setting a precedent for institutional compliance.
By 2027, it is reasonable to expect that financial institutions will begin to explore the potential of regulated stablecoins for full-time collateral mobility in capital markets use cases. While there are retail-focused applications, the real growth engine is in B2B. Studies show that last year, B2B payments became the largest real-world use case for stablecoins, reaching an annualized volume of US$76 billion. This represents a significant jump compared to the beginning of 2023, when monthly B2B stablecoin transfers did not exceed US$100 million.
The opportunity goes far beyond faster liquidity. Companies hold unprecedented volumes of immobilized working capital — more than $700 billion sitting idle on the balance sheets of S&P 1500 companies alone, plus more than €1.3 trillion in Europe. Stablecoins pave the way for real-time liquidity, reduced carrying costs, and significant cash flow efficiency gains. This set of factors explains why companies should lead the next wave of crypto adoption.
Institutional exposure to crypto is becoming mainstream
Cryptocurrencies have evolved from speculative instruments into an operational layer of modern finance. By the end of 2026, corporate balance sheets are expected to hold over $1 trillion in digital assets, and about half of Fortune 500 companies will have formalized digital asset strategies—not just crypto exposure, but active participation in tokenized assets, digital treasuries, stablecoins, on-chain Treasury bonds, and programmable financial instruments.
The data already points in that direction. A Coinbase study conducted in 2025 showed that 60% of Fortune 500 companies are actively working on blockchain initiatives. More than 200 publicly traded companies already hold bitcoin as part of their treasury strategy. And companies focused on digital asset treasury have grown from just four in 2020 to more than 200 currently, with nearly 100 created in 2025 alone.
Meanwhile, the ETF market is expanding rapidly. More than 40 crypto ETFs were launched in 2025, but together they still only represent 1% to 2% of the total ETF market in the US. This difference highlights the ample room for growth in institutional participation.
As exposure to crypto normalizes, capital markets tend to follow suit. By 2026, collateral mobility is expected to solidify as a key institutional use case, with custodian banks and clearing houses adopting tokenization to modernize settlement. It is anticipated that between 5% and 10% of settlement in capital markets will migrate to the on-chain environment, driven by regulatory advancements and the adoption of stablecoins by systemically relevant institutions.
The great consolidation of custody:
Merger and acquisition activity in the crypto segment signals maturity, not just growth. By 2025, the volume reached US$8.6 billion, driven primarily by institutional participation. Digital asset custody is expected to lead the next phase of this consolidation, as banks, service providers, and crypto companies see custody as a catalyst for their blockchain strategies.
A clear pattern is beginning to emerge. Custody is becoming increasingly commoditized, putting pressure on independent providers to diversify their offerings or integrate with larger platforms, stimulating greater vertical integration. At the same time, regulatory requirements are leading banks to adopt multi-custodian strategies to mitigate risks. As a result, it is likely that more than half of the world's 50 largest banks will formalize at least one new custody relationship by 2026.
Furthermore, merger and acquisition activity in the sector goes beyond transactions between crypto-native companies. In the last year, the sector has made significant inroads into traditional finance and fintech, such as Kraken's purchase of NinjaTrader and Ripple's acquisitions of GTreasury and Hidden Road.
Attracting the next billion users — especially institutional investors — requires making crypto use radically simpler, safer, and deeply integrated into existing financial flows.
The convergence between blockchain and artificial intelligence
The most profound transformations in finance rarely occur in isolation. By 2026, blockchain and artificial intelligence are expected to increasingly converge, automating financial operations in ways that were previously impossible.
Stablecoins and smart contracts will allow treasuries to manage liquidity, execute margin calls, and optimize returns on on-chain repurchase agreements, all in real time and without manual intervention. Asset managers will use AI models combined with blockchain infrastructure to dynamically rebalance exposures to tokenized assets and yield protocols in stablecoins, fully leveraging the uninterrupted nature of on-chain markets.
Privacy will be a central element of this expansion. Zero-knowledge proofs will allow AI systems to assess credit risk or risk profiles without exposing sensitive data, reducing friction in credit operations and expanding the adoption of digital assets in regulated markets.
The intersection of these two revolutionary technologies will bring significant efficiency gains and put tools that operate at internet speed in the hands of teams.
A pivotal year for institutional crypto
The sector has matured. And this time, the impetus comes from financial leaders focused on building for the long term.
Stablecoins will underpin global settlements. Tokenized assets will become part of institutional balance sheets. Custody will be the cornerstone of trust. And blockchain—increasingly combined with artificial intelligence—will automate operations that currently limit markets.
Ultimately, 2026 should be remembered as the year in which crypto assets became a fundamental part of the global financial infrastructure.
