Crypto is quietly moving past its speculative adolescence. What is forming now feels more structural, more inevitable. a16z’s latest outlook sketches a future where blockchains stop orbiting finance and instead become embedded into how value, identity, intelligence, and privacy move across the internet itself.
This is not about the next cycle. It is about the next layer.
Stablecoins are becoming the internet’s settlement layer
Stablecoins have already crossed a psychological threshold. With annual transaction volumes surpassing $46 trillion, they are operating at the scale of global payment networks. The difference is speed and composability. New startups are linking stablecoins directly to local payment rails, wallets, and regional banking systems, allowing digital dollars to flow seamlessly into daily life. What once felt experimental is starting to look like foundational financial plumbing.
At the same time, stablecoins themselves are evolving. Rather than simply tokenizing existing fiat structures, the next phase is native issuance. On-chain debt, synthetic assets, and perpetual instruments are emerging as crypto-native financial products that reduce friction, cut costs, and unlock global access. Finance is no longer being mirrored on-chain. It is being rebuilt from first principles.
Banks do not need to be rebuilt, they need to be bypassed
Legacy banking systems are constrained by outdated core ledgers that resist innovation. Stablecoins and tokenized assets offer a workaround. Institutions can launch new financial products without tearing out existing infrastructure. This creates an unexpected path forward where innovation happens alongside, not inside, traditional systems. The result is gradual but irreversible transformation.
As AI agents proliferate, this evolution accelerates. The internet is shifting from a static information network to a live economic system. Payments for data, compute, storage, and services need to happen as instantly as information flows. Smart contracts and blockchains make this possible, turning the internet itself into a programmable financial organism.
Wealth management is becoming personalized, real-time, and global
Tokenization combined with AI is flattening access to assets once reserved for institutions. Private credit, alternative yield strategies, and dynamic portfolios are becoming accessible to retail users. DeFi tools increasingly behave like autonomous wealth engines, adjusting positions in real time. The narrative is moving away from wealth preservation toward systematic wealth growth.
AI agents need identity, accountability, and economic rights
The rise of autonomous agents introduces a new challenge. Financial systems were built for humans, not machines acting independently. The answer is a new identity layer. “Know Your Agent” frameworks assign encrypted identities, permissions, and responsibilities to AI agents, allowing them to transact, negotiate, and act within defined boundaries.
AI itself is also becoming a collaborator. Research agents can now assist in scientific discovery, patent analysis, and complex reasoning tasks. But this creates a new economic tension. AI extracts value from open networks without compensating contributors. Crypto-native micropayments and usage-based compensation systems may be the missing layer that keeps the content and research ecosystem sustainable.
Privacy is no longer optional, it is a competitive moat
Privacy is emerging as one of the strongest forms of network lock-in. Chains that embed privacy at the protocol level create powerful switching costs. Migration becomes risky, and users stay. This dynamic could define future market leaders.
Beyond finance, decentralized and quantum-resistant communication networks are forming. These systems eliminate centralized servers, give users permanent control over identity and data, and remove single points of failure. Privacy is no longer defensive. It is architectural.
Enterprises are also demanding privacy infrastructure as a service. Programmable access control, client-side encryption, and decentralized key management are becoming essential for regulated industries like healthcare and finance.
Security itself is undergoing a philosophical shift. The old mantra of “code is law” is giving way to “rules are law.” AI-assisted verification, runtime monitoring, and automated rollback mechanisms aim to stop exploits before they metastasize. This is not just patching vulnerabilities. It is redefining how trust is enforced.
Markets, media, and meaning are converging
Prediction markets are expanding beyond niche use cases into broader intelligence systems. With better governance, AI-powered oracles, and dispute resolution, they can model reality more accurately and surface real signals from noise.
Media is also changing form. Betting-based credibility models allow creators to stake tokens behind their claims. Opinions are no longer free-floating. They are economically accountable. Truth becomes something you can verify, not just consume.
Zero-knowledge technology is quietly unlocking a parallel revolution. As proofs become cheaper and more efficient, verifiable computation moves beyond blockchains into cloud services, enterprise systems, and everyday applications. Trust becomes something you can mathematically prove, even on ordinary hardware.
The industry is maturing, whether it wants to or not
One of the most telling shifts is cultural. The industry is slowly moving away from transaction obsession toward long-term construction. Founders are being pushed to build durable products rather than chase short-term liquidity.
Clearer regulation may finally accelerate this transition. Market structure legislation can remove ambiguity, standardize behavior, and allow open networks to operate at full capacity. Paradoxically, clarity may be the final ingredient needed for true decentralization to scale.
Crypto’s next chapter is not louder. It is deeper. And by 2026, much of this infrastructure may already be invisible, quietly running the financial and informational flows of the internet itself.
