A16z six executives' views on the 2026 crypto trends: stablecoins, payments, RWA

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Source: a16zcrypto

Translation: Zhou, ChainCatcher

1. This year, we will see better and more sophisticated stablecoin entry points

Last year, the trading volume of stablecoins was estimated to reach $46 trillion, continuously hitting new highs. To put this number into perspective: it is more than 20 times the transaction volume of PayPal; nearly three times that of Visa (one of the largest payment networks globally); and rapidly approaching the transaction volume of the US electronic financial transfer network ACH.

Today, you can send stablecoins in less than a second for less than a cent. However, the unresolved issue is how to connect these digital currencies with the financial systems people use daily—in other words, how to provide entry and exit channels for stablecoins.

Next-generation startups are filling this gap by connecting stablecoins with more familiar payment systems and local currencies. Some companies use cryptographic proofs to enable users to privately exchange local balances for digital dollars. Others integrate with regional networks, utilizing QR codes, real-time payment channels, and other features to facilitate interbank payments. Still, some are building truly interoperable global wallet layers and card issuance platforms, allowing users to spend stablecoins at everyday merchants.

These approaches collectively expand the scope of participants in the digital dollar economy and may accelerate the direct adoption of stablecoins as mainstream payment methods.

As these funding access channels mature, digital dollars will be able to directly connect to local payment systems and merchant tools, leading to new transaction models. Workers can receive cross-border real-time payments. Merchants can accept global dollars without bank accounts. Apps can settle with users instantly anytime, anywhere. Stablecoins will shift from niche financial tools to the foundational settlement layer of the internet.

— Jeremy Zhang, Partner at a16z Crypto

2. Banks will introduce new payment scenarios this year

Today’s banks generally run software that is difficult for modern developers to recognize: in the 1960s and 70s, banks pioneered the adoption of large-scale software systems. The second generation of core banking software began in the 1980s and 1990s (e.g., Temenos GLOBUS and Infosys Finacle). But all these systems have become outdated, and upgrades are too slow. Therefore, the banking industry—especially the critical core ledgers (the key databases used to track deposits, collateral, and other debts)—still often operate on mainframes, programmed in COBOL, interacting through batch file interfaces rather than APIs.

The vast majority of assets worldwide are stored on these decades-old core ledgers. While these systems are proven, trusted by regulators, and deeply integrated into complex banking scenarios, they also hinder innovation. Adding real-time payment features like (RTP) can take months or even years, requiring overcoming layers of technical debt and regulatory complexity.

This is where stablecoins come into play. Over the past few years, stablecoins have not only found product-market fit and entered mainstream markets but this year, traditional financial institutions are embracing them with a new attitude. Stablecoins, tokenized deposits, tokenized treasuries, and on-chain bonds enable banks, fintech companies, and financial institutions to develop new products and serve new customers. More importantly, they do so without forcing these institutions to rewrite their legacy systems—although aging, these systems have been reliable for decades. Therefore, stablecoins offer a new pathway for institutional innovation.

— Sam Broner

3. We will see more original forms of stablecoins, not just tokenized ones

This year, we will see more “original, not just tokenized” stablecoins. Stablecoins became mainstream last year; the number of unissued stablecoins continues to grow.

However, stablecoins lacking robust credit infrastructure resemble narrow banks, holding assets considered particularly safe. While narrow banks are effective products, I believe they will not be the long-term backbone of on-chain economies.

We see many new asset management firms, asset managers, and protocols beginning to offer on-chain asset-backed loans collateralized by off-chain assets. These loans are usually originated off-chain and then tokenized. I believe that, besides possibly distributing funds to users already on-chain, tokenization offers little benefit here. Therefore, debt assets should be generated on-chain, not tokenized after being created off-chain.

On-chain loan origination can reduce the costs of lending services and backend infrastructure, and improve accessibility. The challenges lie in compliance and standardization, but developers are already working to address these issues.

— Guy Wuollet, General Partner at a16z Crypto

4. We will see more real-world asset tokenization, but in a crypto-native way

Last year, we observed banks, fintechs, and asset managers showing strong interest in bringing US stocks, commodities, indices, and other traditional assets on-chain. However, as more traditional assets are tokenized, their tokenization often remains superficial—based on existing concepts of real-world assets without fully leveraging the native features of crypto.

But synthetic products like perpetual futures (perps) can provide deeper liquidity and are generally easier to implement. Perps also offer easily understandable leverage, making them, in my view, the most compatible with crypto-native derivatives. I also believe emerging market stocks are among the most promising assets for perpetual trading. (Some stock options with zero-day expiry markets often have higher liquidity than the spot markets, making for an intriguing perpetualization experiment.)

All of this boils down to the issue of “privatization and tokenization”; but regardless, we should see more crypto-native RWA tokenization this year.

— Guy Wuollet, General Partner at a16z Crypto

5. More people (not just high-net-worth clients) will gain access to wealth management services

Traditionally, banks only offer personalized wealth management to high-net-worth clients: tailored advice across asset classes and personalized portfolios, which are expensive and complex. But as more asset classes are tokenized, crypto platforms enable strategies—combining AI-driven advice and assisted trading—to be executed and rebalanced instantly at very low costs.

This is not just smart investing; everyone can access active portfolio management, not just passive management. By 2025, traditional finance (TradFi) will increase its allocation of cryptocurrencies in portfolios (either directly or via exchange-traded products), but this is just the beginning; by 2026, we will see platforms aimed at “wealth accumulation” rather than just “wealth preservation”—fintech companies (like Revolut and Robinhood) and centralized exchanges (like Coinbase) will leverage their technological advantages to capture a larger share of this market.

Meanwhile, DeFi tools like Morpho Vaults will automatically allocate assets to the highest risk-adjusted return lending markets, providing core yield for portfolios. Holding remaining liquidity in stablecoins instead of fiat, and investing in tokenized money market funds rather than traditional ones, can further expand yield sources.

Finally, retail investors can more easily access less liquid private market assets, such as private credit, pre-IPO companies, and private equity, as tokenization helps unlock liquidity in these markets while meeting compliance and reporting requirements. As various components of balanced portfolios (ranging from bonds to stocks to private equity and alternative investments) are gradually tokenized, they can be automatically rebalanced without cumbersome wire transfers.

— Maggie Hsu, Marketing Partner at a16z Crypto

6. The internet will not only support finance but will become the bank itself

With a large influx of agents, more and more commercial activities are happening automatically in the background, rather than through user clicks, requiring a change in how money (or value) flows.

In a world where systems no longer execute step-by-step instructions but operate based on intent—e.g., AI agents recognizing needs, fulfilling obligations, or triggering outcomes—funds will transfer automatically and instantly. Blockchain, smart contracts, and new protocols are emerging in this context.

Smart contracts can currently settle global USD payments within seconds. By 2026, emerging primitives like x402 will make settlement more programmable and responsive: agents can pay data, GPU time, or API call fees instantly and permissionlessly—no invoicing, reconciliation, or batching needed. Software updates from developers will include built-in payment rules, limits, and audit trails—no fiat integration, merchant onboarding, or bank involvement required. Prediction markets will settle automatically in real-time as events occur—odds updates, agent trades, global payments settled within seconds, without custodians or exchanges.

Once value can flow in this manner, “payment flows” will no longer be a separate operational layer but a network behavior: banks will become part of the internet infrastructure, assets will become infrastructure. If money turns into data packets routable over the internet, then the internet will not only support the financial system but will itself become the financial system.

— Christian Crowley and Pyrs Carvolth, Partners at a16z Crypto

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