20 Predictions for Crypto in 2026
Not prediction market advice.
2025 is coming to a quiet and painful end and we’re questioning everything again starting from blue chip chains like Optimism and Bitcoin to AI.
Here are some predictions on areas that I care about (be warned: no correlation to the areas that actually matter).
Looking back on this should be a good exercise next year and in the worst case a reminder to you that you shouldn't take writers on the internet too seriously.
Fintech L1s accrue no value to $ETH. Ethereum becomes a marketing term and the “Ethereum community” starts caring about the asset again.
More stablecoins than L2s. Same mechanism but way easier to launch. In general, the industry learns to monetize TVL as much as it monetizes transaction volume.
Rollup cluster meta is over. The idea of giving away significant sequencer fees for rollup-to-rollup connectivity goes away/is commoditized. We see major exits from rollup clusters.
Privacy retracts. I think we are still a couple iterations away from mass adopted applications of privacy tech so while it’s great to see the the value spike I think it is a little premature.
Onchain equivalents to ETFs and end of retail farming. Via vehicles like gtUSDa users shift from farming specific vaults to depositing into managed vaults for each collateral asset they care about (USDC, ETH, etc.).
A “trustless asset management” protocol gets exploited for >$100M. Protocol architecture starts to matter again. Not one that I’m rooting for but seems highly likely given the growth of the segment/participants pivoting into earn programs and the shortcuts protocols are taking. We’ve spent blood, sweat and tears building the safest possible architecture for onchain asset management and remain amazed at the volume deposited in vaults that are effectively multi-sigs.
First Bitcoin L2s launch. Nobody’s watching and there’s still a lot of narrative confusion around this but there are several teams behind the scenes working on Bitcoin L2s. The launches begin to challenge the story that BTC is “just a memecoin” or lindy-coin.
The first non-USD stablecoins see adoption. I don't think anybody particularly cares about GBP stable coins but CHF or SGD would be another matter entirely. More to explore there.
Rollups compete on apps. “General rollups” without a killer app struggle to compete on transaction volume.
AI replaces communities and social media for asset discovery. Memecoin communities have peaked.
Traditional NFT collections do not bounce back next year. However, expect to see more tokenization via ERC721 even if it’s just Pokemon cards.
A major celebrity launches a Creator Coin on Base, then everyone forgets about Creator Coins. I think Creator Coins are going to follow a similar trajectory to memecoins and friend.tech. The negative flywheel effect when early holders start to actually lose money does not facilitate long-term patronage in current iterations.
Major issuers develop their own custom Uniswap v4 pools and own their liquidity. Focused on RWA/KYC use cases initially.
Exchanges and other integrators rush to recommend onchain products. Now that they've figured out ways to monetize them (own chains, own stablecoins, deals, etc.).
Futarchy overtakes Retro Funding. Both through launchpads and campaign platforms like Butter.
Launching tokens is cool again. With regulatory support and better launchpads, more teams are emboldened to launch their tokens. This is somewhat dependent on asset prices in 2026 but we should also see teams launching tokens as a source of early funding through futarchy platforms.
“delegates” become a dying breed. The power of DAOs and their delegates shrinks substantially now that they are not a legal requirement. Protocols that didn't reversibly commit to a DAO model now have a competitive advantage in growth and momentum.
Network states issue real assets and become one of the most talked about things in crypto (for a week). Whether via real estate ownership or token issuance, it’s time to take the next step.
AI vulnerability detection starts working. First tools that can find independent vulnerabilities in smart contracts are established. However, they still don't replace audits and teams that rely entirely on AI auditing get burned.
1-2 major prediction market betting categories disappear. We discover that insider incentives lead to unfair markets and platforms self-regulate or get regulated.